Rs 1,000 crore healthcare city in Amaravati

Hyderabad, Feb 5 (INN): Taking a giant leap in healthcare, Andhra Pradesh government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH) on Thursday. A delegation from the United Kingdom met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu here in Visakhapatnam. This comes in succession of the signing of an MoU during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Britain last year.

According to MoU, a mega hospital with an expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore and 1000 bed capacity will be built in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh capital city. Affiliated with the hospital, Medical College, medical-related departments, research and training institutions will also be set up. The state government will give a hundred acres of land to build the Health Care City. The foundation stone for the mega project regarded as 'Health Care City' will be held in July.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister affirmed that Andhra Pradesh will emerge as a healthcare destination of the world. IUIH delegation expressed willingness to the Chief Minister's suggestion to make Amaravati headquarters for their 11 medical projects in the country.

The Chief Minister stressed on making medical services available to common people at reasonable prices. He pointed how costly health care is in advanced countries like the United States. In order to change this, I want to make Amaravati a mega health care city, that provides affordable medical services to all, he added.

He also expressed confidence that if quality medical services are offered at reasonable prices, patients from the United States will visit Amaravati for treatment. He added that the government is giving a fillip to the healthcare sector similar to the IT sector.

Apart from world-class infrastructure, I aim to make Amaravati an education and medical hub, he said. The Chief Minister added that Andhra Pradesh will play a key role in bringing India to the second position in medical tourism, after Thailand.

In this regard, the Chief Minister informed that Amaravati is already making strides in health and education sectors. Apart from renowned institutes like Amity, NRM, Oxford, Cambridge evincing interest in Amaravati, the city will also have AIIMS. That apart, Shetty Group from Dubai has also come forward to construct a large hospital, he said.

Meanwhile, IUIH Chairman Mike Parker said, 'We are setting up 11 mega medical units with an expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore in 11 cities across India'. He said that the construction of the mega hospital in Amaravati will be completed in 36 months. He has also agreed to rope in leading medical institutions and universities around the world for establishing the Health Care City in Amaravati.

Deputy Chief Minister Nimmakayala Chinarajappa, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Advisor (Communications) Dr. Parakala Prabhakar were present. Members of the UK delegation were Andrew McAllister, British Deputy High Commissioner in Hyderabad, Mike Nithavrianakis, Vinay Singhal, Uday Munjal, Nikhil Raj and others were present.