NIMS Medicity, a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, has tied up with the Maldives to strengthen their healthcare delivery system and set up a professional education sector in the country.

The group will also set up a Maldives Space Research Organisation (MSRO) there.The Maldives government has handed over a hospital and two islands to NIMS on a lease of 50 years, Faizal Khan, Managing Director of NIMS Medicity said."The government has handed over a 70-bed hospital with 377 staff to us in Northern Male, besides giving us exclusive rights of two uninhabited islands, where we plan to set up a medical education centre, a genetic research centre, an aviation academy, marine engineering college and a holistic treatment centre," said Khan.

"The total cost of the project is expected to be around Rs 1,650 crore, of which the land alone is valued at Rs 650 crore. We have been given the right to use this land to obtain mortgage loan," said Khan.He said the priority is to double the bed strength of the hospital."All the doctors in the hospital will be provided by us. At the moment there are about 100 Maldivian staff there which includes nursing staff and other administrative sections."We are right now investing Rs 60 crore to beef up facilities in the hospital and orders have already been made for a cath lab and other medical equipment," said Khan.In the second phase of development, by the end of next year, medical education sector would be set up, which includes a medical college and a nursing college, he said."The agreement is that a portion of the seats will be reserved for Maldivian nationals in these colleges, while the rest of the students will come from neighbouring countries, including India," said Khan.

The Noorul Islam University, the engineering college of the NIMS group, was in the news last month when the Indian rocket Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) launched Cartosat and 30 co-passenger satellites. Of these, the lone Indian satellite was built by the students of the NIU from a scratch."The MSRO will be set up by us with the help of retired scientists from our own Indian Space Research Organisation, who already are associating with us, as we are getting ready to send more satellites."Khan said, "With regards to the marine engineering college, there is immense scope as the Maldives lies in the international shipping route and ship repairing facilities have a huge scope there."