Why India and the UK have united to create Indo-UK Healthcare

In an attempt to establish a strategic partnership in the healthcare sector, India and the UK have joined forces to create Indo-UK Healthcare.

The venture is backed by Healthcare UK, which is made up of the Department of Health (DH), UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and NHS England. Meanwhile, the project is funded by £100 million of private investments.

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The King’s College Hospital in New Chandigarh, Punjab will be the first of an expected 11 Indo-UK institutes of health throughout the country, and intends to bring India the best, most prestigious UK NHS hospitals and educational institutions to India.

Once completely implemented, the initiative will be a £1 billion investment into India’s healthcare system. It could potentially create up to 100,000 jobs, as the new medical and nursing colleges created will train 15,000 new MBBS doctors and 20,000 nurses.

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Both nations agree they will benefit from the healthcare collaboration, as the UK has long been known as one of the most foreigner-friendly countries in the world due to its diverse mix of cultures. The Prime Ministers from each country recently came to terms on a Government-to-Government Implementation Taskforce to build the new institutes and create even more collaboration in other areas of healthcare.

An MoU has been signed between Indo-UK Helathcare and Mumbai-based Shapoorji Pallonji Group to construct the 11 health institutes. Funds for the project will be raised through a combination of debt and equity from a collection of banks such as the UK export credit agency, UK Export Finance, as well as leading private equity funds from investment banks including Elara Capital.

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“Our aim is to provide access to this unique service to as many of my fellow Indians as possible through the 11 Indo-UK Institutes of Health (IUIH) to deliver world class accountable healthcare which is ‘Affordable to All,’” said Dr. Ajay Rajan Gupta, who is the director and CEO of Indo-UK Healthcare. “Ango-Indian research collaborations in genetics and translational research would support delivery of better healthcare.”

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