The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital (PGH) is likely to go the Parsi Lying-In Hospital (PLIH) way on account of dissent within the community. As Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Noshir Dadrawala recently commented, "Dissent is healthy as long as it brings positive gain.” He further opined that "in most cases, it is dissent for the sake of dissent or five minutes of fame in the media and with community as the ultimate loser in the battle of egos.”
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True, any proposal will have its share of protagonists and antagonists. In order to reduce this dichotomy, the management must not just take the right decisions but must be "seen” to be taking them. They must be perceived to be correct, fair and transparent in their dealings. Apparently, in the case of PGH, this was lacking.
All corporate entities, whether commercial or industrial, need to go in for makeovers to survive in the rapidly changing, technological and economic scenario. The PGH is no exception. In the corporate world, decisions regarding such changes are not left to the management board alone. Once the board defines the end result to be achieved within certain established parameters, they invite third party professional consulting firms such as McKinsey, KPMG, Ernst & Young, etc who are commissioned to carry out in-depth studies and submit their reports with various viable options to achieve the desired results. They could even assist organizations to put the new format into place, albeit for a price.
The PGH scenario is no different. The management has concluded that in order to survive they need to take a total relook at their structure and operations. They want the PGH to be a leading healthcare center providing the best medical facilities to community members at reasonable cost. To achieve this, the covenant of "Parsis only” may have to be circumvented to some extent. However, I believe this has never been a contentious issue as it can be achieved by going partially cosmopolitan, as proposed earlier. Funding, which was a major stumbling block, is now (hopefully still) available through a generous donor.
The PGH management, in consultation with the BPP, the custodian trustees, will do well to assign this entire exercise to a professional consultancy firm. A similar exercise could be undertaken by the management of the PLIH and BPP to revive the ideally located, heritage structure in a totally new avatar.
Cmde MEDIOMA BHADA (Retd)
mrbhada@gmail.com