B S RAWAT
NEW DELHI: To develop healthcare initiatives in North-East India, leading industry body, Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), has inked an MoU with Healthcare Federation of India (NATHEALTH).

The partnership aims to explore and implement joint opportunities to develop healthcare initiatives in North Eastern states. It also aims to act as a joint platform for advocacy.

Prashant Sharma, Chairman, ICC Healthcare Committee, said, “The MoU would help us to push healthcare initiatives across the country with special focus on North East regions. Our main objective is to accelerate the development of the overall healthcare delivery system across the country and to provide a sustainable ecosystem to all the stakeholders.”

“With technology permeating through all verticals today, we are confident that we see advanced healthcare facilities that provide easily accessible and affordable services to the citizens,” he added.

“The combined footprint of the partnership unifies a large national collaborative effort across healthcare providers, medical equipment manufacturers, resellers, payers, value-added services providers, SMEs, innovators, hospitals, labs, diagnostics and technology providers. It will create a strong knowledge and advocacy platform not only in the Eastern Region but also at a national level,” said Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Secretary-General, NATHEALTH.

The collaboration has identified five major areas including policy advocacy initiatives, thought leadership, knowledge sharing, support to members and capacity building.