The Hindu Business Line : A medical `village'

A Chennai cardiac surgeon's dream of creating an ultra-modern "medical village" on the outskirts of the city was last fortnight given a preliminary look by the global industry team of Finpro, a semi-government expert and service organisation from Finland that helps to speed up the internationalisation of Finnish industries.

Cardiac Surgeon Dr K.M. Cherian of Frontier Lifeline, a unit of Dr K.M. Cherian Heart Foundation, feels that on the healthcare front India has several opportunities to attract patients from across the world, but "we have to get our act together on the infrastructure front... provide good roads, water supply, power, etc. Nobody comes here just for medical treatment; we need something more. It's very well to talk about Kerala's ayurvedic massages, but then we also have to deal with the innumerable bandhs in Kerala."

Dr K.M. Cherian

His long-term project has been to develop a complex of a few hundred acres that will include "a multi-speciality hospital, a medical university, a software park, a multiplex, a shopping complex and cafes where people can relax. I want to create regions that will represent north, south, east and west."

He estimates that such a `village' will cost around Rs 500 crore and is possible only with corporate participation. "I want somebody else to promote it; it will take at least a couple of years, but meanwhile I'm looking for people who will have the technology and the know-how to build such a complex."

Meria Heikela, Senior Consultant with Finpro and leader of the delegation that visited a few hospitals in Chennai and Bangalore to take stock of the health services in India said Finpro worked in 40 countries. "There are all kinds of knowledge in this team; commercial, scientific and healthcare management. A lot is happening in the healthcare sector in India and we are looking at corporate partnerships between Indian and Finnish organisations."

Underlining the need for such collaboration, Dr Cherian said, "They have expertise in some special areas of healthcare and we want to tap those areas. For example, here we use tissue-engineered valves, and we have clinical experience with 42 valves. The same valve manufactured in Germany costs over 3,500 euro; we could make it for 500 euro. It's our in-house product and our results are comparable to what is available commercially. But if we go commercial, nobody will buy it; they will say it is made in India. Our products do not have credibility, as a country we're still trying to get credibility. Apart from credibility, in certain areas we lack technical and other knowledge. The Finnish have a strong bio-medical and bio-engineering base and collaboration with them can help the Indian healthcare industry."

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