Chennai, May 6 (PTI) Canadian billionaire Prem Watsa-owned Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd along with Bengaluru-based business services provider Quess Corp Ltd on Friday announced the signing of an agreement with Christian Medical College, Vellore, to set up a 350-bed paediatric speciality centre at its campus in Tamil Nadu.
Fairfax Financial Holdings and Quess Corp have pledged Rs 300 crore towards setting up the centre which would be named ‘CMC Vellore Paediatric Specialty Centre’ at its Kannigapuram campus in Ranipet district, Tamil Nadu.
The centre would have 350 beds and would cover a range of paediatric specialities. It would be located in a building ‘Fairfax-Quess Block’ and would add to the existing capacity of the health care provider in the district.
“With a vision to provide state-of-the-art paediatric medical and surgical services, Fairfax and Quess have pledged up to Rs 300 crore towards setting up the centre,” a press release said here. In addition to the treatment, the centre would also focus on education, training and research.
“The Fairfax-Quess partnership aims to support CMC’s culture of caring for the poor and vulnerable and maintaining a fine balance between providing quality treatment while being inclusive and minimising the financial burden on patients,” the release said.
“We are excited to partner with CMC Vellore, which has a long-established culture of caring for the poor and vulnerable on the development of this Centre,” Fairfax Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Prem Watsa said.
“Fairfax is committed to give back to the communities where we operate and we believe this initiative will enable CMC to lead the way in transforming paediatric care in India,” he said.
Quess Corp Chairman Ajit Isaac said, “Quess, through Care Works Foundation, has been supporting children’s well-being, health and hygiene programmes for years. This partnership takes our commitment of impacting lives further by improving medical care access for children in need”.
A ‘Project Implementation Committee’ would be formed as per the agreement — for guidance, supervision of the project in planning, construction and operational phases.
The committee would be chaired by CMC Vellore Director and would consist of members nominated by CMC Vellore, Fairfax and Quess, the release said.
“This is an important moment in the history of Christian Medical College, Vellore. Right from its inception in 1900, CMC has played a defining role in identifying healthcare needs in India and providing solutions”, CMC Director Dr J V Peter said.
“We believe that paediatric specialisation is the next priority for our country. With this centre, we have come full circle from our initial focus on mothers and children to develop and provide paediatric specialisation services”, he said.
“We are confident that this project will be a game-changer in the paediatric specialisation domain,” he said. PTI VIJ VIJ HDA HDA