Chairman, GCCI, NRG Committee/ NRG Centre, Dr. Kandarp Parikh, M.S., Shyam Urosurgical Hospital,
and Dr. Bharat Gadhavi, M.S. CEO & Medical Director, HCG Hospitals
AHMEDABAD, Gujarat: Gujarat Chambers of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) NRG Center and Gujarat State NRG Foundation, jointly organized a Seminar on Medical Tourism at Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA) in Ahmedabad recently.
Among the participants were GCCI President Prakashbhai Bhagwati, Sr. Vice President Shankerbhai Patel, Hon. Secretaries and Executive Committee members Jayendrabhai Tanna, Narsinghbhai Agrawal, Rohit Shah, Ashish Guru, Bipin Shah, Himanshu Vyas, Nilesh Desai and Gujarat Government officials N. P. Lavingia, Joint Secretary, NRI Dept. and D. G. Chaudhari, Manager, NRG Foundation. A former Ambassador and Chairman GCCI NRG Center KH Patel and a front ranking oncologist and community activist Dr Bharat Barai from USA also attended and addressed the meet.
Addressing the Seminar as Chief Guest, Principal Secretary NRI Department, Government of Gujarat and Chairman NRG Foundation, Arvind Agarwal, IAS, said that the State has promoted six NRG Centers in Gujarat, and GCCI NRG Centre is the most active among them. He said seminars like this one are not financially beneficial to the State unless better services are provided in public hospitals.
GCCI President Prakash Bhagvati said that more and more hospitals are receiving international accreditations and till date 28 hospitals in Gujarat have got such accreditations. This shows how fast the medical services are improving in Gujarat. K H Patel, Chairman GCCI NRG Center, said that 6 million Gujaratis are spread in 110 countries of the world. The medical services in Gujarat are cheaper compared to many developed countries.
Dr Satish Patel of Sarthak Orthopedic Hospital said that Mexico, Thailand and Singapore are competing with India in providing medical services. We require to improve paramedical and maintenance services to attract more patients from foreign countries. Dr Kandarp Parikh of Shyam Urosurgical Hospital said that pick-up service direct from the airport, availability of interpreters and wi-fi services are also necessary for developing Medical Tourism.
Dr. Bharat Gadhavi, CEO and Medical Director of the HCG Hospitals, said that foreign exchange earned from these services should be tax free. The registration with the police is a cumbersome procedure and sometimes an entire day is wasted in such formalities. Dr. Bharat Barai from Chicago, USA, said that the Licensing Procedure prevalent in USA for doctors should also be implemented in India. This will help in ensuring that doctors are careful in providing reliable services to all the patients, including those from abroad.
In short, doctors who addressed the Seminar were of the opinion that the high standard of paramedical and maintenance staff, cleanliness in hospitals, availability of interpretation services and more direct flights joining foreign countries with Ahmedabad are also required to attract foreign patients as countries like Thailand ,Singapore and Mexico have done.
Ruchit Shah
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