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Calcutta Medical, UK body tie up for day surgery unit

Our Bureau

KOLKATA, Sept. 14

CALCUTTA Medical Centre Ltd (CMCL), a diagnostic and medical facility in the city catering to the needs of nearly 2000 patients daily, has joined hands with Inventures, a part of the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) to set up the country's first Day Treatment and Surgery Unit (DTSU) in Kolkata.

Addressing newspersons here today, Mr Samir Chakraborty, CMD of CMCL, said a new company _ Indo-British Healthcare Ltd (IBHL) _ was being set up for this purpose. Such units work on the principle of 23 hours 59 minutes, which means the patients spend ju st one day in the unit for medical treatment, including major surgery.

The Day Surgery Unit project, according to Mr Chakraborty, will entail an investment of 6 million (Rs 40 crore), including the cost of land. An MoU between IBHL and Inventures has already been signed in London, and the two companies are now in the proce ss of finalising the legalities of the formal agreement, expected to be signed by October. Work on the project is scheduled to begin by May 2002.

Mr Chakraborty said that under the agreement, Inventures will provide total medical and technical support to the project, from planning to execution, and would also consider equity participation at a later stage. The UK healthcare group, he said, was now involved in assisting IBHL to secure international finance for the project. The cost of setting up a fully equipped Day Surgery Unit in the UK is said to be around 19 million.

According to Dr Tim Bentley, Programme Director for business development and international business, Inventures (NHS), Day Surgery, entailed lower hospitalisation costs in comparison with equivalent in-patient surgery. Mostly dealing with non-invasive su rgery, such units enable patients to be aware of the exact cost of medical treatment, without being faced with the need to provide for indefinite hospitalisation bills for prolonged stays.

He said, in the UK, such Day Surgery has proved to be effective in almost all areas of general surgical cases, including biopsy, repair of hernias, drainage, varicose vein surgery, excision of breast lumps, endoscopic and laporoscopic procedures, gynaeco logical surgery, ENT-related surgery and dental procedures. According to the Royal College of Surgeons of England, Day Surgery was the best option for almost 50 per cent of patients undergoing elective surgical procedures, he pointed out.

Dr Bentley and Mr Chakraborty have already held discussions with the Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and other government officials, for location of a suitable site for the new facility. Pointing out that treatment would be highly affo rdable, as it is specifically designed for the growing middle class, Mr Chakraborty said procedures would be offered on `Package Rate' terms. Stating that a business plan for IBHL was now being worked out, he said after full-scale implementation of the D ay Surgery Unit, there were plans to replicate similar units in other parts of the country, including the setting up of a 120-bed hospital (in city) in the long run.

Dr John Mitchiner, British Deputy High Commissioner in eastern India, said the contact between NHS and CMCL was initiated in February this year, during a mission of the British Healthcare companies to India. Describing the JV as a good example of Indo-Br itish Partnership Initiative, he said the partnership has witnessed a record bilateral trade of Pound 5 billion in 2000, and that since 1993, more than 1600 new Indo-UK joint ventures have become operational.