the goan I network
MARGAO
Asserting that his government is committed to promote Goa as a medical tourist destination, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said the government will bring necessary changes in the law to ensure that foreigners coming to the State under medical tourism receive only authentic treatment and keep quacks at bay.
Addressing Ophthalmologists hailing from across the country after inaugurating the iBeach Film Festival at the Holiday Inn, Cavelossim on Friday evening, the Chief Minister said the proposed amendment to the law will take care of quacks cheating the foreigners who come down to Goa for medical treatment. “People know Goa as the land of sun, sea and sand. Besides beaches, Goa plays host to temples, churches and inland tourism. But, now my government is seriously thinking of promoting Goa as a medical tourism destination. In this respect, the government will bring an amendment to the law to protect the foreigners availing medical treatment in the State so that they get only authentic treatment,” he said, adding ‘once the amendment is brought about, there will be no place for the quacks coming into the State from other parts of the country to exploit the foreigners’.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a New India formation, the Chief Minister said the medical fraternity will have to play a major role as well as shoulder the responsibility to achieve the goal.
Pointing out that Goa is famous for the annual IFFI festival taking place in the State every November, the Chief Minister exuded confidence that the State would be soon known as the iBeach Film festival. The CM took the platform to inform the Ophthalmologists and other doctors hailing from across the country that Goa is the only State which provides health care free of cost through the insurance scheme.
He said the government will be willing to render assistance and help to set up a modern eye hospital in the State.
Congratulating the Ophthalmologists for rendering yeoman services to the people by restoring vision to the blind, the Chief Minister took the opportunity to thank iBeach Film Festival Organising Chairman Dr Krishna Prasad Kudlu for holding several eye camps in the State and providing relief to the patients in Goa in the form of cataract surgeries, etc.
In his address, Union Ayush Minister Shripad Naik hoped the iBeach Film Festival will deliberate on the latest developments and inventions in health care during the conference. Saying an eye is an important organ of the human body, Shripad complimented the Ophthalmologists for doing a wonderful job in taking care of the patients.
