NRIs open college in India

A group of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) plans a number of healthcare and educational projects in India and the first medical college under this scheme will open its doors to 100 students.

Through a non-profit charitable trust formed in the name of a social reformer, a group of NRIs from the UAE and other Middle Eastern countries have already accomplished its first major project – a medical college and hospital.

It plans to build colleges for dental, nursing and paramedical courses as well as develop ayurveda and other alternative medical systems.

The group plans to give free medical treatment to poor NRIs and road accident victims from the UAE who cannot afford the medical expenses here.

Gardena Charitable Trust (GCT), established by a group of philanthropic followers of Sree Narayana Guru, a saint and socio-economic reformer from Kerala, has raised Dh100 million.

The group's first project, Sri Narayana Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims), received permission from the Medical Council of India to admit 100 students.

The trust has more than 400 trustees and out of 60 trust directors 52 are expat Keralites from the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United States and Hong Kong.

M G Pushpakaran, a leading Keralite businessman in the UAE and Vice-President of the Executive Committee, said the objective of the trust is to construct a 650-bed hospital. He said: "There are 52 directors, mainly from the UAE and Middle East, who have contributed to the project. We plan to increase the total number of directors to 100 and there are many philanthropists and NRIs with charitable intent keen to participate in the project."

He said the cost of running a medical college is high because there are few experienced teachers available in the market and their average monthly salary ranges from Rs80,000 (Dh6,127) to Rs100,000.

Quoting the World Health Organisation, he said India has 0.6 doctors for 1,000 people, lower than Pakistan with 0.7 doctors per 1,000 and China with 1.06 doctors for 1,000 people.

"We need 154,000 doctors to be on par with Pakistan and 233,000 to be on par with China."

He said after the medical education sector was opened to the private sector, eight new medical colleges were established in Kerala.

For the first six years, the trustees of GCT do not expect profit, adding that they have invested in the project due to their commitment to philanthropic obligations the saint advocated to help socially and economically disadvantaged people.

The group of like-minded disciples of Sri Narayana decided to open a medical college that will not exploit poor students.

"We are planning to provide free treatment to poor and sick NRIs. Accident victims from the Gulf will get free treatment in the 350-bed hospital, which is part of the medical college," said P P Sreenivasan, Treasurer, GCT.

He said more than 80 per cent of the Dh100 million fund needed for the GTC medical and education projects are from NRIs in the Middle East.

The overall administration, management and control of the affairs of the trust and its properties is vested with a board of directors, formed on the basis of a membership scheme that ensures the participation of a wide range of people with charitable intent in the project. The believers of Sree Narayana Guru and his teachings are categorised into A, B and C Class Trustees. Individual or corporate body contributing Rs30 million are institutional trustees who get a membership in the board of directors. Those who contribute Rs5m are A Class Trustees, and individual or corporate bodies contribute Rs1m and half a million are Class B and C trustees respectively.

One in five B class trustees and one in 10 C class trustees are elected to the board of directors. Trusteeship is transferable, subject to approval.

Polassery Sudhakaran, Secretary, GCT said the trust has introduced a "free medical treatment scheme for 10,000 poor families below the poverty line and the scheme is already being used by 48,000 families".

"We are evolving a scheme to provide 50 per cent discount on treatment to labourers returning from Gulf countries.

"The Gardena Charitable Trust is also planning to launch a scheme to meet medical expenses of financially disadvantaged NRIs who have met an accident and are seeking treatment in India," he said.

There are also plans to build a dental college and paramedical college in the adjacent areas.

The trust has acquired 46.4 acres of land and 800,000 square foot of building is under various stages of completion.



Medical tourism

The Nims campus located at Chalakka near the Nedumbassery International Airport in Kerala is banking on growth in medical tourism in the state, which is famous for ayurveda, the centuries-old indigenous medicinal system of India.

A study by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Mckinsey said medical tourism, currently worth Rs1,400 crore (Dh1 billion) has the potential to grow to Rs8,000 crore by 2012. Healthcare spending in India will double over the next 10 years and private healthcare will form a large chunk of the spending, which will increase several fold.

The institute will also cater to the market for alternative medicines, especially ayurveda, which is synonymous with the south Indian state.

Sidhi and homeopathic medicine will be promoted by the medical college, which may ultimately become a deemed university.

As healthcare costs skyrocket, patients from the developed world are looking for cheaper overseas medical treatment.

The cost of an open-heart surgery could be $70,000 (Dh256,900) in the United Kingdom and $150,000 in the United States. The best Indian hospital will do it for $3,000 to $10,000. The cost of a knee surgery in India is $7,700 compared to $16,950 in the UK. Eye and cosmetic surgeries in West cost three to four times as much as in India

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