Yesterday morning, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal proceeded to the official inauguration of the Artemis Curepipe Hospital (ACH), in Curepipe. The ceremony was attended by several ministers, the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Representative in Mauritius, Dr Anne Marie Ancia; the Chairman and Founder of Falcon Healthcare Group, Dr Zouberr Joomaye;, the Managing Director of Artemis India, Dr Devlina Chakravarty as well as other eminent personalities.
Minister Jagutpal highlighted the importance of having adequate human resources available and adequate health infrastructure as well as services to ensure progress both in the private and public health sector. He pointed out that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Private Clinics Association and Polytechnics Mauritius in December 2022 for the training of medical staffs to be employed in private clinics.
Dr Jagutpal underlined that there is another agreement between his Ministry and some 18 private clinics, whereby the Government covers the costs of treatment of patients sent from Government Hospitals to private clinics for treatments, which are not available in the public health sector. He indicated that the ACH expressed its intention to sign this agreement with the Ministry, and, in the coming days, it will become the 19th private clinic to benefit from this agreement.
Furthermore, the Health Minister recalled that the Government’s vision is to make the country a medical and pharmaceutical hub for the Indian Ocean and Africa, in addition to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and Agenda 2063 of the African Union. He also highlighted that Mauritius is currently among the best performers in Africa in terms of universal health coverage.
The WHO’s Representative, Dr Ancia, affirmed that the ACH will help in providing quality treatments and services to the population, especially for teenagers with respiratory problems. The public hospitals cannot be the sole providers of health care.
For his part, Dr Joomaye recalled that the ACH, with its state-of-the-art technology, was commissioned in June 2023. It is a modern hospital built on six floors with a capacity of approximately 80 beds. He seized this opportunity to emphasise that the aim of the ACH is to provide the best health care services to the population at affordable prices without compromising on quality.
Artemis will also provide the best environment for the patients. Dr. Joomaye recalled that all investments have been Foreign Direct Investments.
Mr Deva Marianen, vice president of Falcon Health Care Group, stated that Artemis will bring an equilibrium in the system and will be a fair competitor in the private health sector. Artemis has already made an impact in terms of jobs creation and technology innovation. This tied up with the Government’s vision of making Mauritius a centre of excellence in health care. Mr Marianen also recalled that the project has used FDI of more Rs 1.6 billion and with the coming 2 more phases, additional Rs 3.6 billion FDI is expected. To note, some 280 jobs have already been created, and a thousand jobs will be created in the next 2 years.
The Managing Director of Artemis India, Dr Devlina Chakravarty recalled that she visited the country some ten years before. This project makes her think about India where three decades ago, nearly all health care services were given by public hospitals, and with the increase of its population, the health system started to crumble. Then came private hospitals which change the system. Today, 80% of the health care is provided by private hospitals. This is the model that Mauritius must follow. The MOU between Artemis India and Falcon were signed in 2019. With the pandemic of Covid, the project was slowed down, but in a record time after, a specular hospital has been built. “We want to provide state-of-the-art health care, with technology that is not available” she said. Nowadays, people come to India for treatment and Indian doctors go all over the world to help and provide health care to patients. Devlina Chakravarty said the Artemis India wants to work with the Ministry to help in the public health sector and will be present to take the Mauritian health care to the next level.
