Gujarat govt to announce new medical policy soon: Minister

The Gujarat government would soon announce a new medical policy to develop the state as a medical hub, the state Health Minister Nitin Patel said today.
"The Gujarat government is in the final stages of framing a new medical policy, that would make Gujarat a medical hub. It would increase medical tourism," Patel told PTI in an interview here.
"Our aim is to increase various medical facilities, such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, medical colleges and super-speciality hospitals, for which the new policy would be a discussed in a meeting to be held on December 27, before the announcement.
"The meeting would discuss it for enhancing the medical sector in the state, as part of the success achieved in the Gujarat model of development," he said.

Patel said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the former Chief Minister of the state, was the first to introduce Gujarat as a model state.
"His successor Anandiben Patel has been carrying it forward and changing the policy for the medical sector," he said.

"Under the new medical policy, the government would provide the financial and administrative help to all those who want to set up hospitals and medical colleges in state. It includes subsidy in the construction of facilities for boosting medical tourism and subsidy for purchasing specialised equipment," he said.
He said that the state Health department is in talks with state Finance department to finalize the subsidy amount and several other financial benefits, which would be accorded to those who want to open medical institutions in the state.

It would help in addition of 1,500 MBBS seats to the
state's current pool of 2,780 seats. The government would have control over the 1,500 extra seats added by the new medical colleges, Patel said.
As of now, there are six government medical colleges in the state with a total of 1,080 MBBS seats, as well as 12 self-financed medical colleges with around 1,700 seats, he apprised.
The government would be giving various incentives, including those for land, funds, infrastructure, etc, for the new medical colleges, he said.
All the district collectors have been asked to identify suitable land pieces, where the medical colleges could come up, the Minister said.

"There would be three types of PPP models to be adopted for setting up the medical colleges. In the first one, the existing government hospitals would be given to a private company to run, along with the medical college. In the second type, a new medical college-cum-hospital would be built in the region where no such college exists. In the third PPP model, private hospitals would be allowed to start medical colleges," he added.
"The government has already given no objection certificate (NOC) to Parul University, located at Limda village on the outskirts of Vadodara city, to open a medical college with 150 seats," the university's Chancellor Jayesh Patel said.