The first of these national health service hospitals to come up in Punjab, each hospital would be set up at an investment of GBP 100 million (Rs 1,000 crores)
Healthcare UK, a joint initiative of the Department of Health (DH), UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and NHS England, is supporting Indo UK Healthcare, a consortium of UK and India-based promoters to develop a chain of 11 Indo-UK Institutes of Health across which aim to bring the UK’s finest NHS Hospitals, educational institutions and universities to India.
The first of the Indo UK Institutes of Health – called King’s College Hospital, New Chandigarh is to come up in Punjab. Lord Kerslake Chairman – King’s College Hospital, London and Dr Ajay Rajan Gupta, Director, Indo UK Healthcare signed the Commercial Agreement and briefed the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and David Cameron, Prime Minister of the UK.
The two Prime Ministers welcomed the agreement signed between King’s College Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust and Indo UK Healthcare to develop King’s College Hospital, New Chandigarh. This is the first of a proposed eleven new Indo-UK Institutes for Health that will be developed across India which, when fully implemented, would reportedly amount to a £1 billion investment into India’s healthcare system, accompanied by strategic clinical and training partnerships with the UK’s finest NHS organisations, universities and private sector companies.
It was agreed that both countries stand to benefit from collaborations in healthcare. To this end, the two Prime Ministers agreed to a Government to Government Implementation Taskforce to help drive forward the delivery of the eleven proposed Indo-UK Institutes for Health and to foster greater collaboration in other areas of this sector. Dr Gupta, MD and Group CEO, Indo UK Institutes of Health (IUIH) stated that this project is all about bringing the ‘best of British’ healthcare to India – ‘NHS in India’.
“Our aim is to provide access to this unique service to as many of my fellow Indians as possible through the eleven Indo-UK Institutes of Health (IUIH) to deliver world class accountable healthcare which is ‘Affordable to All’. Ango-Indian research collaborations in geneIndo UK Institutes of Health,national health service hospitals, King’s College Hospital, Indo UK Healthcaretics and translational research would support delivery of better healthcare,” he added.
Funds for the project will be raised through a combination of debt and equity from a consortium of banks including UK Export Finance and private equity funds including Elara Capital. Elara Capital shall be acting as sole advisor for raising funds for these projects.
Reportedly, each of the Indo UK Institutes of Health will entail a foreign direct investment of GBP £100 million (Rs 1000 crores) per project across eleven states and will include multispeciality NHS-branded hospital for healthcare delivery, clinical support services, NHS e-health, staff accommodation, a medical college, a nursing college, research and development facilities, medical manufacturing facilities and a medical mall. The project once completed will employ 5,000 doctors and 25,000 nurses, allied health specialists for the 11,000 beds. The project apparently has the potential of creating upwards of 100,000 jobs. The medical and nursing colleges will train 15,000 new MBBS doctors and 20,000 nurses. MoU has been signed between Indo UK Healthcare and Shapoorji Pallonji to construct the Institutes of Health.
EH News Bureau – Mumbai