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is also a teaching institute, so cardiologists are also trained here," smiles Sudhirbhai.
The hospital charges patients on a fee-slab system that is directly proportional to their earnings. A lot of the poor and really deserving patients are treated free of charge, in the sense that the hospital looks for donors to foot their bills. Sudhirbhai is presently trying to set up a large corpus fund in association with the state government, which would generate enough interest to take care of the poor patients so as to solve this problem once and for all.
The Torrent Group has also initiated an informal programme where highly skilled cardiac surgeons from the US (often NRIs originally from Ahmedabad) come to the hospital with their entire medical teams for a specified period each year and offer their services free. That's how they got an eminent team of NRI doctors from California to come and perform 30-40 minimum invasive cardiac surgeries, the latest in cardiac techniques, for the first time in Ahmedabad last year. Torrent is also thinking of setting up a good general hospital in Banaskantha, their home district. "I feel very happy that my husband chose a field of business, where we could help alleviate people's physical pain and misery, and now my
sons are following in his footsteps," says Shardaben. "But I am concerned about the environment too. This huge Parimal Garden right in the middle of Ahmedabad city was so unkempt. My husband would regularly go for his morning walk there. And we both felt sad that such a lovely property was wasted. So my husband decided to do something about it."
The Torrent Group took over the development and beautification of Parimal Garden, with architect Kamal Mangaldas creating some truly imaginative landscaping, with spaces for senior citizens, picnic spots for families, jogging tracks, children's play areas, water bodies with fountains. It's a green oasis in the heart of the city.
"Our Parimal project convinced us that we must take up 'green activity in a major way," explains Sudhirbhai. "At our Torrent Research Centre just outside Ahmedabad, we have actually put a green building together. The huge ultra-modern complex incorporates several energy-efficient and passive cooling principles that keep the inside temperature of the building a comfortable 30 degrees C. without air conditioning even during the scorching Ahmedabad summers. Isn't this what good health is all about? Not just for our selves but for our planet too?"
Standing (1 to r): Sudhir, Anita, Sapna and Samir Sitting (1 to r): Uttambhai, Shardaben, Shaan, Jinal, Aman and Varun
VARDHAMAN 114
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