Govt to set up Medical Park in TN for equipment manufacture

New Delhi, Dec 21 (UNI) The government is planning to set up a Medical Park and Vaccine Park in Tamil Nadu to encourage the manufacture of medical equipment and vaccines which would reduce the cost of medical treatment in the country.

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters here the parks would be set up on the 400-acre land available near Chennai with the additional assistance of the ministry. Manufacturers from across the world would be inivited to set up medical equipment and vaccine production units in the parks.

It would be like the Special Economic Zone except that the products manufactured here would be meant for the domestic use and not for the export, he informed. ''The parks are likely to come up within one year,'' he said.

According to Dr Ramadoss, the cost of treatment especially diagnosis was high in the country as 90 per cent of diagnostic equipments like MRI machines and ultrasound were imported. There was a huge difference in the cost of imported machines and those manufactured indigenously, he said adding the parks were meant to bridge the gap.

On other measures to reduce the pocket expenditure for people, the Minister said the government was planning to set up health insurance sector in the country. A high-level meeting would he held next month on the issue followed by two other such meetings after which recommendations would be given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said.

Lauding the progress made by the country in the health and tourism sectors, Dr Ramadoss said he had told enterpreneurs in the field to maintain balance so that patients would not suffer. There should be low charges for medical treatment and possessing indigenous diagnostic tools could play a crucial role in this regard.

Regarding the inadequate health budget, the Minister said though it was just one per cent of the GDP at present, it has doubled during his two-year tenure. He said he was holding a series of discussion to get the health budget increased but the main focus was the 11th plan. Increasing health budget was necessary in view of health challenges like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, mental health among others, he added.

He said a major component of the health sector would be the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme. ''The government is collaborating with the road transport sector for the implementation of the IDSP along the highways,'' the Minister said.

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