Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), India’s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), has initiated the process for setting up a world class hospital as part of the social infrastructure to be put in place in the first phase of the project.

According to a press release, GIFT Co. Ltd. has invited bids for this hospital project from national as well as international players and the project will be awarded to the winning bidder by the end of this month.

In response to the tender floated by the company, hospitals such as Hinduja Hospital, Sterling Hospital, Faith Healthcare, Columbia Asia, Medanta and other chains have shown interest for development of Hospital in GIFT City. Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued for development of minimum 200 beds state-of-the-art Hospital in GIFT City in July 2013.

Explaining the project’s focus on providing healthcare in the first phase, Ramakant Jha, managing director, GIFT City said, “We want to ensure that people who move here get benefits of infrastructure and social facilities like school, hospital, club, hotel and entertainment zone from the first day itself. We believe that for growth of any city, infrastructure development has to be a precursor and so we are focusing on it in the first phase.” Out of the these, GIFT has already awarded School Project to Narsee Monjee Education Trust and Business Club project to West India Pvt. Ltd. GIFT is making sure that work life balance is provided to all businesses operating from GIFT City.

Jha informed that the ultra-modern hospital with design to meet international standards will be equipped to provide full range of in-patient and out-patient services. “Being a social facility, allotment of development rights for the hospital in GIFT City will be made at Rs.250 per square feet of BUA. GIFT City has earmarked a maximum of up to 50,000 square metre of Built up Area (BUA) for this hospital,” Jha added.

GIFT City when fully developed will generate five lakh direct and equal numbers of indirect jobs.

Gujarat’s healthcare sector is witnessing exponential growth with number of hospitals and healthcare providers expanding their operations in Gujarat. Concentrated efforts from the government and participation from private players have largely contributed to the growth of this sector in the state. Factors like improved emergency services, increased medical tourism and successful public-private partnership (PPP) models also generate additional opportunities in the sector.

With all the growth indicators well in place, the healthcare sector in Gujarat is all set to grow multi-fold and become one of the biggest employment generators.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) is a globally benchmarked International Financial Service Centre (IFSC) developed by Government of Gujarat through a joint venture between its undertaking Gujarat Urban Development Company Ltd. (GUDCL) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. (IL&FS).