An investors' meet, organised by the Odisha government here, saw an encouraging response from investors in the healthcare sector on Wednesday.
The meet saw a positive response from investors like Apollo, Kauvery, Dr. Agarwal's Eye Institute and Medall, among others.
"The state government is committed for the growth of the healthcare infrastructure in the priority districts of the state. The government assures investors unmatched facilitation support to set up hospitals in Public Private Partnership (PPP)," said Health Minister Pratap Jena.
He said the government would provide encumbrance free land at competitive prices and viability gap funding during the crucial initial years of operations in addition to the multiple other benefits in the State's Healthcare Investment Promotion Policy 2016.
Twenty five locations where affordable hospitals are proposed to be set up by the Odisha government collectively entail investments to the tune of Rs 1,300 crore, which would, in turn, create 2,900 new hospital beds, said the Minister.
"This will be the single largest PPP initiative in the health sector in India and will create a model for increased expansion of healthcare into the smaller towns of India in the next few years.
"This is likely to create over 10,000 new high-paying and highly-skilled jobs in the health sector of Odisha," Jena said.
He said the affordable hospitals will allow the low-income households in the state's hinterland to avail cashless treatment nearer to their homes, without the need to travel long distances under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY).
The other key proposal that was showcased to investors was the operations and maintenance support for the proposed cancer hospital at Jharsuguda on PPP mode. This has been envisioned to provide quality cancer care services to 83 lakh people across western Odisha districts.
While the Government of Odisha will design, finance and build the infrastructure and also procure the medical equipment, the private partner will have the responsibility of operating, maintaining and managing the hospital to provide seamless healthcare services to the people.
Notably, 52 healthcare investors including Max Healthcare, Manipal group, Glocal Healthcare, VPS Healthcare, Yashoda Hospitals, Cygnus Medicare had evinced interest to explore investment opportunities in Odisha in the investors' meet organised in New Delhi recently.
--IANS
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