It was in 2010 at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit that Dr Bharat Mody was invited by the Gujarat Government to sign a MoU for setting up a hospital in Vadodara which would create a goal standard for hospitals in India and also give an impetus to the medical tourism industry of Gujarat. The ‘Welcare Hospital project’ was one of the 5 signatory projects at the time and was signed in the presence of Shri Narendra Modi who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat back then. Welcare Hospital has been one of the only projects to have been established and commissioned in due time. Not only has it turned into an iconic hospital project attracting patients from across the world but it is a dream site for designers and architects who come to study it as a model hospital for a 100-bed facility.
The wheel has now turned a full circle and in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit of 2017 the Gujarat Government invited Dr Mody to interact with the Saudi Arabian Delegation who have approached the Government to associate with them in a new initiative launched by the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Under this project, Saudi Arabia is aiming at benefiting from the expertise of Indian entrepreneurs like Dr Bharat Mody to advise them on building and operating a highly-sophisticated hospital platform at a cost-effective price point, thus enabling the end customer(patients) to avail world class quality treatment & safety measures at reasonable costs.
The Saudi Arabia Delegation was led by Mr. Kamel S. Al-Munajjed and the managing director of the healthcare division of the Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority (SAGIA), Dr Basma. The Saudi Delegation thoroughly enjoyed their time with Dr Mody owing to much useful deliberations. Now, Dr Mody has been invited to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and meet other officials of SAGIA to explore opportunities of extending his expertise and work of Welcare Hospital in Saudi Arabia. The drop in oil prices has resulted in stress on the overall budget and the health budget of oil dependent economists. They are now looking at countries like India and experts like Dr Mody to bring cost rationalisation to their own country.