By IANS,
Mumbai : As Mumbai got a new 730-bedded private hospital, Dhirubhai Ambani’s widow after whom the world-class healthcare facility established by Anil Ambani is named, said: “What better gift than this can a mother expect from her son?”
Kokilaben in her brief address said although the hospital – Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital & Medical Research Institute (KDAH) – fulfils the dream of the late cardiac surgeon Nitu Mandke, for her it meant something more.
Kokilaben said the decision of her younger son, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, to name it after her was an ultimate honour – “What better gift than this can a mother expect from her son?”. Amidst applause, she expressed gratitude to Anil for accepting her suggestion to set up not only a neurological but all other speciality departments at the hospital.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan inaugurated the KDAH here Monday.
Chavan said the occasion was like a family function for him since his father, the late former Maharashtra chief minister S.B. Chavan and the late Dhirubhai Ambani were very close friends.
He lauded Ambani’s efforts to give Mumbai a world-class hospital in the suburbs and said it would be a boon for the people of the city.
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group chairman Anil Ambani said the hospital has great aesthetics, artefacts, paintings and other things to present a good ambience for the patients.
He said it had always been his wife Tina’s desire to have a third child, possibly a daughter – “This hospital will be her third baby,” Anil said.
Other guests like Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan also spoke briefly on the occasion. Also present were Bachchan’s wife Jaya and their daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.
World-class medical facilities will be available at KDAH, making it the first major private healthcare facility to come up in the western suburbs, supporting specialization across the realm of clinical medicine.
The KDAH is a 730-bedded healthcare facility with over a 100 outpatient departments, 115 intensive care units, including pediatric and neo-natal, plus centres for bone and joint, brain and nervous system, cancer, cardiac sciences, children and rehabilitation, according to a hospital statement.
The 17-storeyed building plus two basement floors with facilities on one million square feet, encompasses a health saloon, a medical mall, patient research centre and a clinical research division with medical services available round-the-clock.
A suburban medico, Himanshu Modi said this hospital would prove beneficial to many patients in the western suburbs which were compelled to seek advanced, high-quality medicare either at Lilavati or AHI, or go all the way to south Mumbai to places like Jaslok Hospital, Breach Candy Hospital, Hinduja Hospital or Saifee Hospital.
“It will not only help save time for the patients from far-flung places in the suburbs, but also enable quicker treatment without a waiting list as is prevalent in some of the other big hospitals,” Modi explained.
Private healthcare has progressed in leaps and bound in India since the past few years. From being a marginalised player in the country’s state-run healthcare system, now it has moved to a position of pre-eminence.
It is estimated that of the Rs.1,000 billion set aside for investments in India’s healthcare, almost 80 percent will come from the private sector.
Pursuing an objective to become a globally acclaimed institution, KDAH has been designed referring to the latest American Institute of Architecture (AIA) guidelines and various accreditation standards like JCI & NFPA. Using various indicators, clinical and general, it would constantly monitor the quality of service with a team of quality champions in every area driving the initiative.