Mauritius, which has emerged as a fast growing healthcare and life sciences destination during the last couple of years, has called upon the Indian investors to invest in the country to become part of the success story of Mauritius which is on its way to become a healthcare, wellness and medical outsourcing hub.
“Over the years, Mauritius has built itself the reputation of medical hub and is now emerging as a medical travel destination. The development in its healthcare industry has been consistent and sustained. The number of privately owned clinics and hospitals increased by more than 50 per cent in the last three years. The country has attracted significant Foreign Direct Investment in the healthcare and medical travel sector. Major global healthcare players have invested multi-speciality and super-speciality centres of excellence to provide a spectrum of treatment and services,” Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Empowerment of Mauritius Dr Ramakrishna Sithanen told Indian investors and pharma players in Mumbai.
Considering the large scale untapped opportunities for pharmaceutical segment in the region, Mauritius has set up a competitive business environment to attract higher Indian investments in the country. It has successfully created pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices industries in the country, supported by high-end biomedical research and innovation.
To support the fast growth of the healthcare sector, both government and private operators have been investing huge funds in capacity building to cater to the increasing skilled manpower requirements of this industry. The island has developed expertise for servicing foreign patients, for both inpatient and outpatient treatments. The number of foreign patients grew eightfold in just four years between 2005 and 2009, and it is a destination of choice for low-cost, high quality treatment combined with a tropical holiday. Apollo Hospital and Fortis Healthcare of India have already set up their business operations in Mauritius.
Raju Jaddoo, managing director, Board of Investment of the Republic of Mauritius, said, “Mauritius is an attractive investment location for the setting up of multi-speciality hospitals and super-speciality centres. The country has a well developed medical devices industry, manufacturing a wide range of quality products. Several transnational corporations and multinational companies have set up their production units. The companies can undertake contract manufacturing, sub-contracting, private label manufacturing, assembling and sterilization in Mauritius. With the appropriate regulatory frameworks for pharmaceutical and biomedical R&D, availability of talented labour force, taxation at the rate of 15 per cent and business friendly environment will assist investors in a big way.”
Mauritius is currently putting in place the appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks for conducting clinical trials, and endeavours to position itself as a biomedical research hub. The country is a major player in ITES-BPO arena, with nearly 300 companies employing some 12,000 people and it is also becoming a major destination for knowledge and business process outsourcing in the medical sector. A significant number of companies are involved in activities like medical transcription, translation of medical documents, medical image processing, medical claims management, and more. It is now moving towards high-end medical services such as telemedicine and teleradiology.
Raju Jaddoo added, “Mauritius, with its competitive workforce, growing pool of talent trained in several universities, commitment to green technology, growing healthcare industry, and an enabling legal framework, is now positioning itself from the surge in biotechnology. It is creating framework for conducting preclinical, clinical and stem cells research which will help investors in long term.”