Calcutta is set to get a new ?super-speciality? eye hospital in December, with a 50-bed facility that will deliver ?top-quality eyecare at 20 per cent of the market rate?.

The 20,000-sq-ft hospital, Mahavir Seva Sadan ? Vision Care, to come up in Mukundapur, off the EM Bypass, will be set up by the Eastern India Healthcare Foundation (EIHF), in association with Vision Care Education Research Foundation, a charitable trust.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed on Friday between EIHF chairman Alok Roy and Vision Care chairman S.L. Singhvi. While Vision Care will provide the land (around 1.25 acres) and start-up funds of Rs 2 crore, EIHF will build, hire personnel and manage the hospital for 23 years, according to the agreement.

The hospital will be based on the prototype of Madurai-based Arvind Eye Hospital, which is the technical collaborator. ?Our target audience is primarily the needy segment of Calcutta. In this volume-driven model, we can dispense treatment at one-fifth the prevalent costs, and 30 per cent of our patients will be treated free,? claims Roy.

While the thrust will be on cataract and glaucoma, the entire gamut of eye facilities will be on offer, promises Udayan Lahiry, a trustee in EIHF.

The foundation aims to establish centres of excellence in the healthcare sector and will be responsible for conceptualisation, building, commissioning and subsequently, managing the hospital.

The eye hospital will be set up at a cost of Rs 6-7 crore and will be commissioned in December. The outpatients? department will be equipped to treat 500 patients a day, while the two operating theatres, with three tables each, can perform 100 eye operations daily.

Mahavir Seva Sadan, to be designed by Archemedes, will be located next to the upcoming 500-bed super-speciality hospital, also being developed by EIHF. The project will be executed by MedicaSynergie, which has planned and commissioned a plethora of hospitals in the country.