Giving back to society: Dubai bizman to set up medical university in his hometown in Bengal

He struggled a lot, in more ways than one, in his early life, but is now doing reasonably well as manufacturer, wholesaler, exporter in gold and diamond jewellery. Based out of Dubai, his business operations are spread across many countries. But his passion for doing bigger and meaningful things in life, dream to bring in changes in the society and his roots keep haunting him day in and day out. It is out of this passion and dream, he is well set to put up a modern, multi-speciality hospital-cum-university at his hometown Uluberia in Bengal's Howrah district.

Speaking to Hans Bizz Buzz exclusively, Rabindra Nath Goswami, Managing Director, Rabindra Jewellery LLC, Dubai, spells out his vision and how he is reaching out to like-minded people to translate his dream into reality

You studied commerce and accountancy. Your main line of business is diamond, gems and jewellery. Don't you think healthcare would be a different ball game altogether?

We all are here to play our role and we all go back to pavilion at the end of the day. So in this journey we must keep our footprint so that things become little different and next gen tries to follow and go beyond. We choose different fields for earning and try to have a smooth life as much as possible. But hardly we can see and feel the life in our society in our journey. So the key for me was to address the unaddressed and try to make some impact for people who need it and who deserve to get something better than what they are getting.

Being a student of accounts, statistics, commerce and management you get enormous scope to learn wide ranging topics that mostly cover our life, lifestyles, employment, trade, business and social impacts. Basically accounts and money are prospective ways to see where to invest and how to invest, how to mitigate loss and earn profit and how to minimize liabilities and risks and gain assets and success. And in this ball game, what we all find is that health is the most valuable wealth. It's all about achieving higher quality of happiness with good health. So why not foray into healthcare??

What was the trigger behind getting into or your proposed foray into the healthcare sector?

During Covid we saw the reality of chaos and uncountable deaths, pain and grief, to be frank, obviously Bengal did really well in all aspects but still the country as whole there was not genuinely up to mark so that's one of the reason to go for it as being more organized and systematic health care we can achieve greater height in delivery better healthcare to the people-society.

Besides, we also saw Indian medical students dying and suffering immensely in Russia-Ukraine armed conflicts. So, I thought if we can create more medical colleges and universities, the scope of getting more admission within the country and that can stop lots of unwilling students who are going abroad for studying MBBS. It will save our country and we will have more doctors to minimize the huge gap of patients and doctors ratio.

Could you please throw some light on the concept of 'One World International University' concept?

We will have the infrastructure to offer the world one of the best healthcare facilities also it will give a clear concept to the future generation with research and innovative ideas how to counter the challenges and how to prepare for any kind of disasters or pandemics.

Our aim is to bring the best intellectual resources together and add a dash of humanity to that, to make this world more beautiful and healthy and more liveable with smile, freedom, dignity. This university will give a major boost to our education ecosystem, looking beyond text books and classroom lectures. It will work towards improving our practical lives with teachings and practice and will bring in real changes and will add a whole new dimension to the world of teaching.

Have you already acquired the land for this project? Where is it located?

Yes it's done. We are still trying to accumulate more so that the future expansions may be smooth and without any land scarcity. It is located at Uluberia in Howrah district.

Have you worked out the costs or investments, in phases?

It will entail an investment of nearly Rs 400 crore and we are planning to open it within 3 years.

How do you propose to mobilize funds for this project?

We are discussing with various stakeholders - doctors, investors and banks. And I don't see any problems in mobilising the funds. Many people are interested because it has a huge social impact and it is with definite directions. It will certainly meet the target dates and within few years of commissioning it will break even also.

Do you have any plans to bring in famed Indian doctors practicing abroad?

Yes of course. A number of Indian doctors, who are practising abroad, will come here and give their valuable inputs and contributions. These are people who are looking forward to a better society and are keen on offering their services and experiences towards making that. We will also offer them modern and comfortable atmosphere and surroundings, and we will blend that with pristine beauty, quality lifestyle, food and entertainment. We will also have ecotourism cottages within the compound. There will be multiple sources of revenue generation.

Are you looking at only one hospital at Uluberia or eventually put in place a chain of hospitals?

We'll have an aggressive approach towards going to places within the country and eventually it has to grow and look beyond borders. We all are global citizens now. It will be done in a step-by-step manner.

Is there any special reason for choosing a rural/semi-urban area as the first location for your hospital?

Given the wider canvas that we are looking at, we need a huge portion of land and here I've got a large parcel of land and obviously this place has got a positive energies and vibes. I have my roots here and it's very close to my heart. The comfort level is much high here. People who would come here for treatment would certainly enjoy the environment and nature here. Patients would be relaxed mentally. I always thought of creating an atmosphere of happiness and brightness. I was also looking for a place where we can expand easily. I found this place to be 'the place'.

How would your hospital stand out from the rest?

We will create and have our own identity. Here people will come not only getting their physical ailments treated but also to get rejuvenated mentally. We will drive home the point that hospitals are not just a place to come with gloomy faces. One can be as cheerful as (if not more) one is outside.