Punjab, December 05, 2004
Indian Express

THE world, for Aasa Singh, was 12 acres of land in Dhillawan village in the Kapurthala district of Punjab. But recently, after suffering acute chest pain and breathlessness, the wealthy farmer had to step outside his comfort zone. Not too far, for three hours away from Dhillawan is a superspeciality hospital offering facilities not to be found elsewhere in the region.

On a cold November day, Aasa Singh was sitting up in a sunwashed ward of Escorts Hospital, recuperating from the heart operation that had cost him Rs 2 lakh. Singh has been to London twice to visit relatives, but the thought of travelling to the United Kingdom for the surgery never crossed his mind. ‘‘I chose this place as this is my home,’’ says a visibly tired Singh.

Droves of non-resident Indians think the same way as he does, preferring to schedule medical procedures for their annual trips home. And these two constituencies—the wealthy farmer and the wealthy NRI—are the twin justifications for the wave of ‘hospotels’ to break upon the Punjab landscape in the past three years.

As the name implies, these hospitals offer patients an array of hotel-like facilities and services: swank interiors, luxury suites, room service, multi gyms, 24-hour cafes, ATM machines, recreation rooms, air-conditioned prayer rooms, et al. The era of five-star medicare is well and truly here.

‘‘Our aim has been to create a world-class integrated health care delivery system in India,’’ says Amardeep Singh, senior manager of Fortis Hospital, which triggered off the ‘hospotel’ trend when it arrived in Mohali three years ago.

But why Punjab? ‘‘People of this region, including Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, had to travel to Delhi for super-speciality care as no facilities were available. We have filled that vacuum,’’ explains Dr H P Singh, medical superintendent of the Rs 40-crore Escorts Heart and Superspeciality Institute, Amritsar.