$40b health tourism project tagged for support to boost India-Ja ties
Published:Friday | January 29, 2021 | 12:23 AMHuntley Medley - Associate Business Editor
A health tourism project slated to be developed in Montego Bay over the next five years is among the plans for enhanced collaboration between Jamaica and India being supported by new High Commissioner Runsung Masakui.
The tourism project, estimated to cost about $40 billion, will be done by a member of the Indian diaspora in Jamaica.
Boosting trade and investment flows, as well as technical collaboration between the two countries, is the main goal Masakui has set for his three-year tenure, which started in November last year. The emphasis, he says, will be on high-value, tertiary health services, including health tourism projects, pharmaceuticals and telemedicine; knowledge-based enterprises encompassing technical training and the buildout of broadband internet across Jamaica; and helping to ramp up agriculture-based food processing here for export to his country.
Already, the Indian mission has thrown its support behind the health tourism development being pioneered by the Montego Bay-based Bioprist Group, controlled by Dr Guna Muppuri, a businessman, real estate developer and medical doctor who holds Indian and Jamaican nationalities. Bioprist Group also owns pharmaceutical products developer and distributor Indies Pharma Jamaica Limited, as well as the Bioprist Knowledge Park business process outsourcing enterprise.
Muppuri confirmed the project, which he described as a major health tourism, healthcare delivery, training, research and development facility, is expected to have significant inputs from stakeholders in India and the United States. He however declined to divulge details of the venture as the project is said to be still in the planning phase, with various regulatory permits being sought and financing being mobilised.
“If we take the health sector as a whole, there is a huge potential for collaboration,” Masakui told the Financial Gleaner during an interview at the offices of the Indian High Commission in Kingston earlier this week.
He points to Jamaica’s geographic location close to North America and its hospitable year-round weather as providing competitive advantages for the development of high-quality healthcare and recuperating facilities at a lower cost for Americans citizens and health insurance providers than now obtains in the US. In this way, he foresees Jamaica becoming a health tourism hub for the Caribbean with investment and technical collaboration from Indian business persons and institutions.
The career diplomat, who concedes that his country enjoys a substantial trade-balance advantage in the exchange of goods between the two nations – particularly in relation to Jamaica’s imports of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies from India – says there are areas in which Jamaica’s capacity for export can be boosted.
Value-added food processing, building on the country’s growing agriculture sector, Masakui believes, is Jamaica’s best chance for increasing its exports of goods to India and elsewhere. To achieve this, the buildout of production, productive and technical capacity of a broad range of small and microenterprises, he says, should be pursued with urgency.
While the enhancement of trade in goods between the two countries will receive attention during his watch, the Indian envoy says it is in the areas of enhanced trade in services, collaboration and the mobilisation of investments in health services, technology and knowledge-based enterprises that India is best positioned to assist Jamaica in its economic development.
Masakui says he has been meeting with several Jamaican universities to explore possible collaboration with institutions and individuals in India. STEM education – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – he adds, has been the focus of his early discussions with Prime Minister Andrew Holness and efforts are under way to develop concrete collaborative projects in this area.
He also mentioned a project to assist the Government with the development and roll-out of broadband connectivity across the country, but says the details are still being worked out.
“The high-end knowledge economy, including health services and STEM education, holds endless possibilities for India-Jamaica relations and the economic and social development of Jamaica,” Masakui said.
He notes that his consultations with a broad range of stakeholders in Jamaica over the past two months have convinced him that this area should command his priority attention during his tour of duty.
The Indian high commissioner is keen on exchanges and investments that will promote more technology start-ups in Jamaica, as well as arrangements for greater levels of business process outsourcing involving Jamaica and India. He noted that his country is already the location for the back-office services of several companies operating in Jamaica and elsewhere globally, including technology developer Amber Group and global tax, audit and advisory service firm KPMG.