Kovai Medical Centre ties up with US varsity for masters programme

To tap the growing demand of the Indian healthcare industry, Coimbatore-based Kovai Medical Centre Research and Educational Trust (KMCRET) has tied up with Philadelphia-based Saint Joseph's University to offer a masters programme in health and hospital administration.

Addressing mediapersons, Nalla G Palaniswami, chairman and managing director, KMCRET, said the course is aimed at producing trained professionals in hospital administration. With the number of corporate-run hospitals on the rise, it's difficult to come across such professionals, he added.

The Indian healthcare industry, worth $20 billion, is estimated to employ over four million people.

The tuition fee of the course is Rs 4.34 lakh and is exclusive of travel, boarding and lodging cost in the United States and Coimbatore. The course is an 18-month programme where students will have a 12-week study and also observational trips with practical training at US-based hospitals.

The programme consist of 12 core courses namely healthcare organisation, healthcare informatics, accounting for healthcare organisations, financial management of healthcare organisations, managed healthcare, health services research, ethics of healthcare, healthcare policy and healthcare administration.

The course is expected to commence by July this year and the initial intake by KMCRET will be 30 students.

Susan Kassab, director of admissions, Saint Joseph's University, said the faculty of the university will teach six of the above mentioned courses. Newhouse, university program director of Saint Joseph's University, will conduct an intensive faculty development programme for the KMCRET faculty, which will equip the Indian faculty to teach the remaining six courses.

KMCRET is a non-profit charitable organisation. The hospital under the trust called Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital is a 350-bedded hospital with a turnover of Rs 50 crore.

Saint Joseph's is ranked among the top 15 universities in North United States and has extension programmes with universities and other institutions in Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America.