Why Medicity?Our aim is to bring the highest global standards of healthcare to India, something at par with Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins, focusing not just on the heart but providing every possible facility. Across 43 acres in Gurgaon, we will have 1,500-2,000 beds—350 of them for critical care—40 operation theatres, 18-20 superspeciality centres, high-tech labs, even a medical school, hotels and service apartments. As a concept, it’s unprecedented in not just India, but Asia as well. It will be functional by 2007. How will it be different from other ‘hospotels’?We are spending Rs 1,000-crore on Medicity to make it an institution for quality care and training. Making money will not be its sole aim, there will be some medical ethos. A healthcare institute should not be seen as a fly trap, intent on catching patients. But the era of five-star medical care seems to be here already.There are only a few centres of excellence that can offer international standards. In North India, I can name only Apollo and Escorts in the private arena, though there are several centres in the South. So far as medical tourism is concerned, I think it’s a possibility, though everyone seems to think it is a most happening thing. It is not as if foreign patients are beating down our doors. People are looking at India as a good healthcare option, but it doesn’t happen like that, one needs the infrastructure. Yes, people might be coming to mediocre hospitals for illegal kidney transplants and the like. ‘So far as quality healthcare for the common man is concerned, well, there are paradoxes everywhere. Health insurance is what we need.’ What are the loopholes you see?The Indian Health Care Foundation and CII are trying to create awareness regarding India in rest of the world. But before medical tourists start coming, India has to be tourist-friendly. We have to have the right infrastructure, proper standardisation. Medical tourists should be able to get short-notice visas, arrival procedures have to be simplified. You have to remember you are dealing with ill people, they need special care, maybe special single-window clearances, safe transport. We have a major price advantage, but need to do much more. What about the government? Does it have a pro-active approach?Two task forces have been set up. One is a Ministry of Tourism body and the other is an inter-ministerial task force headed by the health ministry. They are making their reports. There has been some sensitisation for sure but how much of it translates into action remains to be seen. In all of this, hasn’t quality healthcare gone beyond the reach of the common man?There are paradoxes everywhere. We have to try and make good quality healthcare available to all. It can happen by insurance. Healthcare has become expensive not because of expensive buildings but because consumables are becoming expensive by the day. I may waive the doctor’s fees, but the patient has to pay for the consumables. Health insurance is the need of the hour. A small sum per month can guarantee a secure future. Not even one per cent Americans can write their cheques for medical expenses, it is insurance that helps.
