PPP

GE Healthcare Joins Hands with Gujarat Government

The company will upgrade medical technology in the State

In a first-of-its-kind Public-Private Partnership (PPP) global healthcare equipment major GE Healthcare has tied up with Gujarat Government to upgrade medical technology in the State. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), GE will upgrade medical technology for setting up diagnostic imaging centres in five medical colleges and hospitals in the State. The medical colleges in the regions of Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Bhavnagar and Jamangar will be provided with advanced CT and MRI facilities in the next five to seven months. A centralised tele-radiology centre will also be set-up in Ahmedabad. As far as public health goes Gujarat is quite a frontrunner. As a complete service solutions provider, the tele-radiology centre in Ahmedabad would link the rest of the hospitals that will help provide professional image interpretation services and second opinion to hospitals and patients. It has introduced the first comprehensive School Health Programme, which provides free check-up and treatment including super-specialty care to nearly 13 million children. The State also enacted Emergency Medical Services Act last year to standardise emergency medical services. 'GE Healthcare will invest Rs 350 million and our aim is to transform the Indian healthcare industry,' said V Raja, President and CEO, GE Healthcare. The technology package in this PPP model is such that the students would be able to learn to use the latest instruments. The charges for CT and MRI scans are 40 to 50 per cent lower than the market rate and even the poor are benefited as out of the 60 MRI scans conducted daily, 10 MRIs will be free of cost to Below Poverty Line (BPL) patients. 'The PPP initiative has ushered in a new era in healthcare and it is a natural way of developing healthcare capabilities in the region,' said State Health Commissioner Amarjit Singh.

EH News Bureau