Gujarat poised for medicare revolution: minister

Ahmedabad, Aug 22 (UNI) Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas today said the state government was aggressively pursuing its agenda to make medicare easily and effectively accessible to people.

GE Healthcare, the USD 17 billion healthcare business of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and Health and Family Welfare Department, Government of Gujarat today announced the signing of MOU for advancement of the medical technology in all the teaching hospitals/medical colleges of Gujarat under the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

These medical colleges are located in Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamnagar. The new facilities will be operational in five to seven months.

''The state government has led the way in providing modern and accurate healthcare to the people. This partnership will further enhance our leadership position and help us provide best diagnosis through most modern technology to the people of Gujarat, while reducing the costs. We hope this will become a role model for other governments who are working to improve healthcare in their states,'' Mr Vyas said.

Speaking on the occasion, V Raja, president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare (India), said, ''Under this PPP model, GE Healthcare will set up advanced diagnostic imaging facilities like BrightSpeed Computed Tomography and High Definition Magnetic Resonance systems in each centre. Additionally, GE Healthcare will facilitate operation of these centres by engaging professional radiologists, technicians and staff.'' As per the terms of MoU, GE Healthcare and its associates will invest Rs 35 crore on equipment and facilitate providing trained professionals including doctors, nurses and technicians to the medical college hospitals for diagnostic imaging services using CT and MRI.

The GE Healthcare will set up a specialised, centralised tele-radiology centre in Ahmedabad linking the rest of the hospitals, which will facilitate professional image interpretation services and second opinion to the hospitals and patients, the first of its kind in the country among the government institutions.

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