Nagpur, a medical hub?

The other day, Nagpur’s one Minister said that Nagpur was becoming medical hub. Is it really true? May be in the sense of rise in number of hospitals in city, may be in terms of all types of health services including Cancer. Now what not is done in Nagpur? Everything means everything. Nagpur has multispeciality hospitals, specialised hospitals focussing on particular specility. The hospitality of these hospitals is excellent, of course black sheep is always there. Still. The treatments are available at Government Hospitals, but most of them one find in private hospitals. In a way private hospitals are contributing 80 per cent share. This is because of improper policy of Government.
We have best of the best Oncologists like Dr Anand Pathak, Oncosurgeons, Neurosugeons, neurologists, orthopaedic surgeons, critical care consultants, Cardiologists, Cardiac Surgeons, ENT specialists, Sexologist, Pathologist, Physicians, Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Radiologists, Ophthalmologists, Gynaecologists, diabetologists, endocrinologists, surgeons, dentists, Ayurved specialists, Homoeopaths and all. City has all diagnostic tools Sonography, EEG, ECHO, CT Scan, MRI etc. Nagpur did not have PET Scan, now it is available in city though at only one place that too in private centre. City is growing, hospitals are coming. Now the number of private hospitals has gone up to over 3,000 with excellent ambience. The carrot dangling regarding Government Hospitals continued. Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) was listed in the AIIMS-like institute and gradually it is progressing. Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH) which was not even a 100-seat college, has become 150-seat college.
Now patients from outside the country too are coming to the Orange City to get best treatment and that too in affordable price. The desire to fulfill this need, and the common aim to benefit people beyond boundaries gave birth to a concept that we today call Medical Tourism. The prime motive of spreading these innovations could now be fulfilled across countries and continents. As the name says, medical tourism means providing patients with facilities to travel to another country for medical treatments that may not be available in their homeland, or at costs beyond their capacity. Call it a blessing or availability of outstanding facilities, but the medical expenses in Nagpur have majorly been within the common man’s reach. It is not hidden from the world that India is home to the best medical experts, doctors, surgeons and all kinds of medicinal practitioners, making us an attraction for foreign patients seeking efficient medical help under affordable costs, said Dr Dheeraj  Bhojwani, a young entrepreneur started pursuing MBA after completing MBBS, but longed to put his knowledge and medicinal expertise to best use by reaching patients, irrespective of where they belonged from. This thirst to serve the needy on a wider base motivated him to start a setup named Forerunner Healthcare Consultants Private Limited, that would help patients from other countries to land in India for best medical care at low costs. Committing to the promise he could fulfill, I started India’s first medical tourism company in the nation’s heart, Nagpur while doing his MBA. The central location, people-friendly atmosphere, availability of some of the best hospitals and clinics, easy access to any part of India, and facilities at par with those at metros, but at much lower rates,made Nagpur a potential location for the organisation.
Dr Bhojwani said, “We have association with some of the best medical institutes across India. The overseas patients contact us with their medical queries and the group provides them treatment in premium hospitals at affordable rates. This is a decade old story, and there has only been success forthe medical facilities, patients, and company as a whole.”
Everything is going on properly. But the pathetic condition of all Government hospitals including those owned by Nagpur Municipal Corporation did not improve. Be it GMCH, IGGMCH, three NMC hospitals plus their 40 small clinics and dispensaries remained as it is despite the efforts taken by local doctors. The system became more scattered in every sense. GMCH and IGGMCH are the tertiary care hospitals but patients from all walks of life started coming to these hospitals even to get treatment for their simple cold and cough. This has brought unnecessary load on these tertiary care hospitals and suffered unrepairable loss. Fortunately Nagpur’s private hospitals are not drawing huge money as compared to the hospitals in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi or other some metroes. Because of this, the treatment is within common man’s reach.
Medical tourism holds immense opportunities and could play a vital role in celebrating Nagpur’s name among her medical counterparts.  But the lack of recognition to this concept hinders the rate at which it should be succeeding. There have been meager efforts by the government to identify it as a significant medical source. We also don’t receive government funds to promote the model, which if nurtured, could become one of the highest sources of earning foreign exchange and revenue.
The medical fraternity in Nagpur is fragmented, most experts do not wish to work together, there are no major corporate hospitals. We have very limited resource pools to attract patients. Marketing is another challenge as the expenses are soaring considerably. What we need is a separate hospital area in the vicinity of Nagpur, organisation of seminars, workshops to keep-up with the international standards,an integrated approach to nurture interest in doctors as well as patients to avail benefits of this design.
To streamline the scattered industry, Dr Bhojwani is instituting a Medical Tourism Association along with counterparts in medical tourism. The association will work towards the congregation, regularity of all healthcare tourism groups, and to secure government support.