AGARTALA, Aug 24 - Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb today said his Government is trying to create a medical hub in the State as part of its efforts to revive the State�s fragile economy.
�Tripura is an ideal place for a medical hub because of its close proximity to Bangladesh and some parts of Assam. Our Government is working towards making it a reality through the PPP mode,� he said.
Addressing a programme at the Tripura Institute of Paramedical Sciences (TIPS), a PPP venture at Hapania here, Deb said the Government is trying to rope in the best health service providers to establish the proposed medical hub in the State.
�Our officials are even in touch with US-based healthcare institutions for this purpose. We want to set up a state-of-the-art medical hub to attract patients not only from Tripura but also from the neighbouring country,� Deb said.
Asserting that providing the best healthcare is a big business in the country, the Chief Minister said the State can earn at least Rs 250 crore annually from the proposed medical hub.
Apart from patients from Tripura, thousands of patients from Bangladesh use the Agartala airport to travel to places like Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore for superspeciality treatment.
Deb said the upgraded Regional Cancer Research Institute (RCRI) would be inaugurated soon. A sum of Rs 160 crore has been spent on modernising the existing RCRI, which is considered to be the best cancer hospital in the North East region.
The Chief Minister also highlighted his Government�s achievements in the past 18 months. �The State�s own revenue generation has increased from 9.8 per cent to 26 per cent during this short period of time despite the fact that the present Government had to shoulder a huge debt burden of Rs 13,000 crore left by the previous Government,� he said.
Deb said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target for Tripura to become a robust economy. �Modiji has asked us to increase the size of Tripura�s economy from Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore by putting development activities on a fast track. We are trying hard to meet the target,� he said.
