The Karnataka Cabinet has approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Azim Premji Foundation to establish a super-specialty hospital for organ transplantation in Bengaluru at an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore.
Under the MoU, the Foundation will be allotted 10 acres of land on a 99-year lease at the premises of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases. The hospital will be developed near the Nimhans campus and is expected to significantly strengthen organ transplant infrastructure in the state.
Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil said the project will be implemented in phases, with a 300-bed hospital to be completed within three years. The facility will later be expanded to a 1,000-bed hospital over five years, offering all major organ transplant services, including liver, kidney, heart and intestine transplants. The location is expected to facilitate organ harvesting from brain-dead donors.
The project will follow a public–philanthropic partnership model, with the Azim Premji Foundation bearing the entire cost of construction and operations, while the state government provides the land. The Foundation is expected to spend around Rs 350 crore annually to run the hospital.
The state government noted that Karnataka currently has more than 5,000 patients awaiting kidney transplants and over 1,000 patients in need of liver transplants. Of the total bed capacity, 70 per cent will be reserved free of cost for economically weaker sections, particularly below-poverty-line families. The remaining 30 per cent of beds will be available to other patients under the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (ABArK) scheme.
The hospital will be governed by a board comprising the medical education minister, the department secretary and the finance secretary, and will be named after the Azim Premji Foundation. The existing Institute of Gastroenterology Sciences and Organ Transplant (IGOT) Hospital will continue functioning and is expected to be taken over by the Foundation-run hospital in the future.
The state government said the project will benefit not only Karnataka but also patients from across the country, positioning Bengaluru as a major hub for advanced organ transplant care.
