Lucknow: Speaking on the sidelines of the Times Property Expo, eminent doctors from the city emphasised that healthcare must be treated as a crucial pillar of urban-planning and policy decision making. Besides presenting rationale behind their assertion, they also noted what can be done for existing infrastructure.Themed as ‘Future Living: Healthcare, Wellness and the Cities of Tomorrow,’ the panel discussion aimed to understand how real-estate growth and healthcare were connected and emphasised its importance on quality of life.“Whether it is at the level of an individual or developer, health aspect cannot be ignored. Having a house or property is surely life saving if not advantageous alone,” said founder-director, Health City Hospitals, Dr Sandeep Kapoor in his opening remarks.Adding to this, founder of Aastha Centre for Geriatric and Palliative Care, Dr Abhishek Shukla, said: “Considering that India’s population is bound to grow old over the next few decades, taking care of health needs will become extremely important. In fact, developers will see a time when people will invest only when healthcare needs such as setback areas for ambulances is assured.”Former president of IMA Lucknow and sociopreneur, Dr PK Gupta, said that hospital/healthcare centres can be an anchor of development. “Whereever doctors go they attract and create opportunities,” he said.Citing the example of SGPGI campus located next to his home, he said: “I remember the inaugural ceremony of SGPGI was held at KGMU as the campus was too far.” He added that few years down the line, he also invested in a piece of land near the institute which has given him great dividends through his patient homestay venture.Founder-president of the Society of Acute Care Trauma and Emergency Medicine and director emergency medicine at Medanta Hospital, Dr Lokendra Gupta, explained the concept of ‘golden hour’ in various health conditions to emphasise the importance of the subject. “Every minute counts in case of emergency such as a stroke or health attack… a point will come when residential projects will eventually not move forward unless health needs are addressed,” he said.The doctors said that in healthcare infra also catalysed economic opportunities especially for Lucknow which is already rich in terms of health centres of global repute. “Every big or small medical centre in the world can trace its roots to Lucknow. There are unique needs of these hospitals to bring in medical tourism,” said Dr Kapoor.Dr Shukla said that quality of life everyone’s dear one depends on access to health services. “Many times we reach to people in need only to find that the RWA staff is not sensitised enough to understand the urgency,” he said.Other doctors present on the occasion also joined the conversation. Noted pediatrician Dr Sanjay Niranjan said that “in case of children every need is an emergency… there is less reaction time to deal with it. So all existing societies must at least have an emergency medical station.”
