CHENNAI : "A dream for every rural Indian."

That's how President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam described the St Gregorios Cardio-Vascular Centre, Parumala, when he visited it last year. Now the man behind the super speciality heart facility, K.M. Cherian, wants to take that dream to the rest of the world.

The picturesque village of Parumala lies on an island encircled by Kerala's holy river, the Pampa, and its tributaries. Next year, it will become the venue of the first International Rural Cardiac Conference, with Thomas Pezzella of the World Heart Foundation serving as a key resource person. The aim is to share the Parumala model of "cost-effective medical treatment for emerging economies."

The 35-bed Parumala centre practises what it preaches. Since it opened in December 2003, the centre has treated patients at a fraction of the cost they would have paid in a metropolitan city.

The centre, a unit of the 300-bed St Gregorios Mission Hospital, is sponsored by the Chennai-based Frontier Lifeline and the Dr. K.M. Cherian Heart Foundation. With its modern cathlab, computerised ECG and treadmill testing facilities and cardiac operation theatre, the centre sends its rural patients the message that they don't have to settle for anything less than their urban counterparts.

No wonder, in this year's Republic Day speech, Mr. Kalam cited the centre as an example of the Providing Urban Amenities to Rural Areas (PURA) scheme.

Dr. Cherian tells of one 39-year-old villager who was born a `blue baby' with a congenital heart defect and received no treatment till the centre was opened. "In rural areas, [there are] so many patients who could have been operated, but have not even been diagnosed properly."

The centre also reaches out to the villages with free diagnostic heart camps, training programmes and telemedicine facilities. It has spent over Rs. 4 lakh on free camps and concessions over the last two years.

The centre cuts cost partly by using indigenous equipment. An Indian-made heart valve costs just 10 per cent of the imported version.

Dr. Cherian also advocates a "Robin Hood policy". This cross-subsidisation strategy involves promoting the centre as a medical tourism hub. He hopes to woo Western patients, who face high costs and long queues at home, with a lower price tag and the attractions of God's own country.

So far, most of the international patients at Parumala have come from the underdeveloped nations of Africa, Central America and West Asia. Abdul Jabbar, 64-year-old Iraqi, who underwent surgery at Parumala earlier this month, heard about the centre from previous Iraqi patients. "Dr. KMC is a hero in Iraq," he says.

Holistic healthcare

But Dr. Cherian is also aiming for patients from developed nations who can pay more. For that, "our approach must change... we need to provide five star facilities, trips to tourist areas" and targeted promotional activities, he says. One initiative is collaboration with the Cholayil group to provide holistic health care.

"Combining Ayurveda with allopathy — that should be the business plan to promote medical tourism," says Dr. Cherian.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail