The Hindu : Focus on health, tourism, education: CM

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 17, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Focus on health, tourism, education: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

KOZHIKODE MAY 16. The Chief Minister, A K Antony, has said the UDF Government's efforts are directed at enabling the State to emerge as a major destination for health, tourism and education.

Inaugurating the first phase of the multi-speciality, high-tech corporate Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) here today, the Chief Minister said the Rs 80-crore hospital in which NRIs from Kerala had made heavy investments, indicated the slow but steady emergence of Kerala as an investor-friendly State.

``The State is in the throes of a major change. Rapid changes are needed to attract investments. The Government and the Opposition are trying to forge a consensus on ways of making the State more investor-friendly. The proposed global meet of investors in Kochi is an attempt to give an impetus to these efforts,'' Mr. Antony said.

Stressing the immense scope for investments in the health and tourism sectors in the State, the Chief Minister said the Planning Commission had advised the State Government to focus on attracting investments to these two areas. The Chief Minister said the Government intended to act on the recommendations of the Planning Commission's experts. At present, the volume of tourist traffic to Kerala was around two lakhs.

It could swell to around five lakhs if the health-tourism facilities were promoted in a big way.

``We must have facilities for rest, recreation and education. Kerala should emerge as a major destination for education, tourism and health,'' Mr. Antony added.

The Chief Minister said the Government hoped to attract investment worth nearly Rs 50,000 crores in the next five years. However, he added that the Government was also determined to ensure transparency in deals involving private investments.

This was to minimise scope for corruption. He was happy that considerable investments had already been made in the education sector.

Speaking at the function, the Health Minister, P Sankaran, hailed the establishment of multi-crore hospital facility by NRIs, but used the occasion to make an appeal to all private hospital managements to reduce their fee so that advanced medicare would remain within the reach of the common man.

The Industries Minister, P K Kunhalikutty, hailed MIMS as a milestone in the State's development and hoped there would be similar investments in the industrial sector as well.

In his report on the hospital project, the MIMS chairman, Azad Moopen, said the high-tech super-speciality hospital was the realisation of a dream of a group of Non-Resident Keralites who found it ironical that ``Keralites going to other States and to foreign countries for expert medical care were being treated there by Keralite doctors and paramedical staff working in the hospitals there''.

He promised that though a high capital venture, the hospital's fee for its world class medical facilities would always remain at par with that in other hospital for the poor.

The Mayor, Thottathil Ravindran, presided. The Indian Union Muslim League State president, Panakkad Syeed Mohammedali Shihab Thangal, Abdulla Cherayakkat, MIMS managing director, and T.P.M. Sahir, A Sujanapal, Binoy Viswom and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, MlAs, spoke.

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Focus on health, tourism, education: CM