New land auction for health sector

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JULY 30.

Aimed at addressing the long-standing concerns of the healthcare sector, Delhi's Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Vijai Kapoor, today said the Government would soon announce a new land auction scheme for this sector.

Giving broad highlights of the scheme, he said it will offer land for hospital at lower than the commercial rates, but slightly higher than those for zonal ones. Mr. Kapoor was speaking at the first meeting of the CII National Committee on Healthcare.

``The Delhi Government will soon be advertising available sites for the healthcare sector. The existing pattern of land allotment is based on the principle of allotting land to the companies on a commercial basis and offering on a pre-determined price to the societies and charitable trusts,'' he said.

Mr. Kapoor was of the view that the healthcare sector needed to be recognised as an industry not be associated with charitable trusts and societies. ``If the healthcare sector has to achieve robust growth and develop a world-class infrastructure, then it has to move forward on an industry footing,'' he said. ``Not only this would enable better management but also help in drawing funds from financial institutions,'' he added.

Inviting the industry leaders to come forward with their suggestions for the forthcoming Master Plan, he said: ``It will be more friendly to the needs of the healthcare sector.''

Mr. Kapoor suggested that the Government explore means to discharge its role in subsidising the healthcare facilities for the poor through the mechanism of health insurance. He was of the view that by adequately employing the insurance sector in the healthcare segment would off-load financial burden to some extent and enable the Government to utilise finances on developing the healthcare infrastructure. He also invited the industry members to prepare a proposal for developing a healthcare city in the Capital.

Earlier, the Max Healthcare managing director, Mr. Nripjit Singh Chawla, said Delhi had the potential to become a healthcare destination for South Asia. Given the knowledge pool of highly skilled medical professionals and a well-developed telecommunications infrastructure to support high-end technology requirements, Delhi could be a hub for health care what Bangalore and Hyderabad are to the IT sector, he said.

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