Art 370: Wish to invest in J-K, govt's move will generate employment , says Medanta chief

Welcoming government's move of scrapping Article 370, Medanta hospitals chairman Dr Naresh Trehan on Friday said that he was ready to invest in Jammu and Kashmir once the situation normalises.

"Kashmir does not have good hospitals except two-three government hospitals. After the repeal of Article 370 and Article 35A, there is a possibility that we can cater better healthcare facilities to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Let everything settle there, many of us are ready to establish hospitals there. People of the state should get healthcare facilities like rest of the country has," Trehan told ANI here.

He said special status to the state had made it almost impossible to establish a hospital there. "Since there was a closed system in place, it was like impossible to built hospitals there," he said.

Trehan also said that the government m0ve has thrown open the opportunities of employment which will ultimately benefit the people of the state.

He said: "Healthcare is a big employer. A single bed in a hospital creates six direct and seven indirect jobs. If we built a 2,000-bed hospital, 34,000 jobs would be created. It has a very good multiplier effect."

Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message to the nation yesterday, Trehan said that the abolition of the special status was in the interest of common people.

"Artificial situation was in the interest of interest groups, in the interest of the people. It has been done to liberate them not suppress," he said.

His first major effort to reach out to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, Modi in an address yesterday promised them of peace, jobs, investments and prosperity. He urged the youth to take charge of development.

Modi had expressed hope that the region will soon come out of the negative impact of Article 370, which has given them only "separatism, terrorism, family rule and corruption".

The government on Tuesday stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special rights granted under Article 370 of the Constitution. Parliament has approved a resolution to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories -- Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.