A dispute concerning a €10 million expansion plan for the private Clane Hospital, now called UPMC Kildare Hospital, has come before the Commercial Court.
The expansion will include the redevelopment of endoscopy suites, construction of a new central sterile supply department and general infrastructure upgrades, including a third general theatre.
The move to expand was the result of a January 26th board meeting of a joint venture company comprising Institute Of Eye Surgery Holdings DAC (IOES) and UPMC Kildare Hospital which had been established to co-purchase the hospital.
UPMC holds 75 per cent of the joint venture firm’s shares while IOES, whose beneficial owner is Eugene Ng, has 25 per cent.
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IOES, along with Clane Hospital Development Associates (CHDA) Ltd, have brought proceedings over decisions taken at the January board meeting against UPMC Ireland Ltd and against Eamonn Fitzgerald, Stefan Ahlers and John Farrell, who are three directors nominated by UPMC to the joint venture company.
UPMC, which is a for-profit healthcare provider, is part of a non-profit health group which operates internationally. The UPMC group is based in the United States and has more than 100,000 employees, operating in more than 40 hospitals worldwide.
UPMC’s Irish hospitals include Clane, UPMC Whitfield in Waterford, UPMC Aut Even Kilkenny, and the UPMC Sports Surgery in Dublin.
In an affidavit seeking entry of the proceedings to the fast-track Commercial Court on behalf of the defendants, Stefan Ahlers, who is a director of CHDA as well as a defendant, said that Ng, who is sole director of the joint venture company appointed by IOES, did not attend the January board meeting.
IOES claims the redevelopment resolutions were not passed in accordance with the terms of the joint venture agreement. Undertakings were sought from the defendants that no steps would be taken giving effect to the resolutions, but the defendants declined to do so and maintained there was no breach of the agreement.
On March 26th, IOES sought a High Court injunction restraining the defendants from implementing or giving effect to the resolutions. The matter was adjourned on the basis of undertakings from the defendants substantially in the terms sought under the injunction.
Ahlers said there was an urgency to the determination of the proceedings for reasons including that some of the infrastructure is approaching end-of-life and given the significant growth in the volume of endoscopy activity.
He also said it had been anticipated that construction works would start this month and be finished by January 1st, 2027.
The case was entered into the Commercial Court list on Monday by Judge Mark Sanfey on consent between the parties and adjourned to allow agreement to be reached on directions for progressing the case.
