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`My contract is up to 2010; it can't be terminated'

New Delhi May 19 Dr Naresh Trehan, the visible face of Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHRIC), has challenged calls for his removal by Fortis Health Care, the present promoters of the Capital's leading super-speciality hospital.

The cardiologist, who is Executive Director and owns 10 per cent stake in EHRIC, was on Saturday morning barred from entering the hospital premises.

The day began with high drama at the institution, with relatives of the patients protesting security personnel stopping Dr Trehan from entering the operation theatre. The police was also called in.

Though a Fortis' spokesperson said that Dr Trehan's administrative powers have been ``terminated'', the doctor said that the management did not have the powers to do so. He cited the status quo ordered by the Delhi High Court in the case related to sale of EHIRC, which was set up by the Escorts Group.

``My contract was with the EHIRC society for 20 years, from 1990 up to 2010. As per the HC order on maintaining status quo, the Fortis management cannot terminate the contract,'' Dr Trehan said.

Mr Anil Nanda of the Escorts family moved the courts against Fortis' action, which allowed Dr Trehan to continue his work at EHRIC. The bone of contention between the Fortis management and Dr Trehan has been over the Medicity projects to come up in Gurgaon. Both Dr Trehan and Fortis had announced their intention to set up large healthcare projects there.

According to the spokesperson, Fortis has been negotiating for a partnership in Dr Trehan's over Rs 100-crore, 2,000-bed, Medicity project which is being planned on the lines of the John Hopkins Institute, US. The company had earlier admitted that two similar projects of such a large magnitude, and planned for the same city, did not make commercial sense.

The drama unfolded late Friday evening when the Ranbaxy-promoted company, through an official communiqué quoting Fortis Hospital's Managing Director, Mr Shivinder Singh, informed the media that Dr Trehan had relinquished his post of Executive Director of EHRIC.

According to the Fortis spokesperson, Dr Trehan, working on his Medicity in his private capacity amounted to a conflict of interest. "You can't have your full time Executive Director setting out as a promoter of a competitive project," the spokesperson said. Fortis, which has filed a police complaint against Dr Trehan, is confident that EHRIC will retain its trust with patients. "We have a team of doctors with strong clinical-care strengths, that Dr Trehan has trained," the spokesperson added.

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