The Supreme Court has warned the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in New Delhi that it will “handover” the medical facility to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) if it did not fulfill the requirement in the 1994 lease agreement of providing free treatment to the poor.

The apex court on Tuesday ordered the inspection of the records of the last five years of the Apollo Hospital to determine if it had been providing free medical treatment to the poor in fulfilment of the lease deed requirement binding the hospital.

The requirement was to provide free treatment to 30 per cent indoor and 40 per cent outdoor patients as per the 1994 lease agreement. It is on this condition that the hospital had got 15 acres of land at a symbolic lease amount of ?1 per month on Mathura Road.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh said that they would not hesitate to “handover” the hospital to AIIMS if it was found to be in violation of the lease agreement.

The court was hearing an appeal filed by the Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited (IMCL), that runs the Apollo hospital, challenging a September 22, 2009 order of the Delhi high court. The order had come on a public interest litigation filed by All India Lawyers Union, alleging that medical facilities are not being provided to the poor by the hospital.

IMCL's counsel told the apex court that the hospital was running as a joint venture and the government of NCT of Delhi has 26 per cent shareholding and was equally benefited with the earning.

In reply, Justice Surya Kant told the counsel, “If the Delhi government is earning profit from the hospital instead of taking care of the poor patients, it is the most unfortunate thing.”

The bench said that the hospital was given land on lease for 30 years, which was to expire in 2023. It asked the Centre and the Delhi government to find out whether its lease agreement was renewed or not. In case the lease has not been extended, what lawful exercise has been undertaken in respect to the said parcel of land, the bench asked the Delhi and Central governments.

The bench also sought to know the existing total bed strength of the hospital and records of OPD patients for the past five years. It asked the hospital administration to cooperate with the inspection team and provide all relevant records as sought by the monitoring authority.

 “The affidavits will also explain how many poor patients recommended were provided free treatment in the past five years,” the court said.

The court also gave liberty to the hospital to file its affidavit. The matter will be taken up again in a month.