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Optimal use of social infrastructure facilities can be ensured by setting up more multi-utility areas and common facility centres.
This would also reduce the pressure on land in a resource-scarce State such as Kerala, according to Dr Rekha C. Babu, Chief Executive Officer of the Rs 200-crore BCG Group, based in Kochi.
She said this while addressing members of the Trivandrum Management Association on the topic ‘Me as an Entrepreneur' here on Thursday.
VARIED PRESENCE
The BCG Group has a presence in the construction, hospitality and tourism sectors in Kerala and West Asia .
Social infrastructure is taken to mean all institutions that work towards maintaining health, cultural and social standards in the society.
An estimated 10 sq m-per-person-area is essential to provide social infrastructure for a neighbourhood of 15,000 people, including the space for recreational and utility use.
Schools that function in two shifts and school facilities that could be used for vocational and non-formal social educational purposes in the evening hours need to be encouraged.
Similarly, healthcare facilities that ensure opportunities for common treatment and cross-consultations shall not just save on space, but also ensure optimal efficiency and better services.
TO INVEST HEAVILY
With this in mind, the BCG Group intends to invest heavily in the social infrastructure in the State, Dr Babu said.
“We will be adding 16 lakh sq ft into the social infrastructure space in Kerala in the next four years,” she added.
As part of this initiative, the BCG Education Services, in association with the Manipal K12 Services, has just launched two schools under the brand name, Guardian Public School, in Ernakulum and Palakkad.
Five more such schools would be established at different towns in Kerala over the next three years.
Another dream project now is the BCG Health Square in Kochi, which according to Dr Babu, would be a ‘total health mall.'
The Rs 25-crore multi-disciplinary health mall would bring all health-related facilities under one roof.
On full commissioning in August this year, the mall would feature facilities for medical consultations, investigation centers, health and wellness products in the over-1.1-lakh sq feet facility that would rise into 10 floors.
SUPER SPECIALTIES
The mall would seek to accommodate more than 40 super specialty doctors and general practitioners with their own independent practices and featuring centralised services such as patient management desk, secretarial assistance, call monitoring and billing.
The BCG Health Square would also bring together leading diagnostic centers, organic and health food chains, pharmacies, eye care/ophthalmological products, medical labs, outlets for health and medical equipments, dialysis centres and skin care products.
REVERSE FLOW
Dr Babu observed that expatriate doctors — particularly those working in the UAE and other parts of West Asia, the UK and the US — have been showing keen interest in the project.
Growing importance of health tourism is also attracting doctors from abroad to have a presence here. “In a sense, we will be witnessing a reverse flow of doctors taking up consultation in the State during their vacations here,” she said.
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