THE SUCCESS OF “ADANA” IS SCOTLAND
A1+
[04:11 pm] 18 September, 2006
In the third match of the first qualifying phase of the UEFA cup
which took place in Scotland futzal champion of Armenia “Adana” beat
“Fair City” from Scotland 5:3 and topped the list of the third group
with 7 points.
In the next phase the champion of Armenia will play with “Sporting”
from Portugal, “Korzov” from Poland and “Alfa Parf” from Macedonia. The
games will take place on October 9-12 in Poland.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

STATE IS PUSHED TO SELL ITSELF
By Evelyn Iritani, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, CA
September 18, 2006
A bill on the governor’s desk mandates a new effort to boost foreign
investment and trade.
California produces some of the world’s finest foods, movies and
software, but unlike other states, it has no outposts abroad to market
its goods to eager buyers.
Unless you count Armenia, a former part of the Soviet Union, where
the trade office is funded by donations from California’s Armenian
American community.
ADVERTISEMENT The Golden State exported more than $116 billion
worth of goods last year and handled 40% of the country’s container
traffic. After Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in 2003, he
vowed to be a “super-salesman” for the state, whose $1.6-trillion
economy ranks among the world’s largest.
Now, a group of lawmakers and business leaders is prodding the governor
and the state to get back to promoting the state’s industries.
Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles) successfully
pushed legislation requiring the state Business, Transportation
and Housing Agency to develop a strategy for attracting foreign
investment and trade. That bill, which was passed by a wide margin,
has been sent to the governor’s office.
Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the legislation, said
Darrel Ng, a spokesman for his office.
The state once staffed a dozen trade offices abroad, including in
Tokyo, Shanghai and London. But during the budget crisis of 2003, the
Legislature shut down the California Technology, Trade and Commerce
Agency, which had a $13-million budget and 91 employees, and closed
11 of the 12 outposts.
State Sen. Jack Scott, a Democrat from the Pasadena area, which has
a large Armenian American community, was able to save the Armenia
office because it was privately funded.
Romero said state officials needed to determine whether they should
reopen offices abroad and if so, how they should be managed and
funded. The state also needs to look at the effects of tax policies
and other regulations on foreign companies, she said.
“We have been flying blind in California,” she said.
“We don’t have a trade policy.”
Garrett Ashley, a former Schwarzenegger aide whom the governor picked
to head the state’s international trade efforts, said California has
suffered because it lacked the resources to sell itself overseas.
“I think there’s no question that a state the size of California
and the significance of California needs to have a presence in the
international business arena and a way to promote itself,” Ashley said.
Jock O’Connell, a trade consultant in Sacramento, agrees that the
state’s trade strategy needs an overhaul. But he said foreign trade
offices were a waste of taxpayers’ money because they were too
difficult to manage from afar and often became politicized.
“The common point of view in the private sector is these trade offices
serve political, not commercial, purposes,” he said.
The state would be better off using its resources to modernize
California’s highway system, railroads and ports, O’Connell
said. Airports should be a high priority because more than 50% of
the state’s exports, including electronic components and perishable
commodities, are shipped by air.
The governor has asked voters to approve a $20-billion transportation
bond measure in November that includes $3.1 billion to facilitate
the movement of goods.
On trade missions to Japan, Israel and China, the governor used his
celebrity to hawk California wine, produce and other products. The
governor is taking another group of officials and executives to Mexico
in November.
After Schwarzenegger’s Asia trip, Air China signed multimillion-dollar
contracts with United Airlines to have its San Francisco maintenance
facilities service the Chinese airline’s Boeing 747 and 777 engines,
according to the governor’s office. Schwarzenegger also helped persuade
Virgin America, the new budget U.S. airline partly owned by British
entrepreneur Richard Branson, to locate its headquarters in the Bay
Area hub.
Famima, one of Asia’s biggest convenience store chains, decided to
expand into California after its chief executive saw a billboard in
Tokyo featuring Schwarzenegger, the governor’s office said.
In two years, Famima has opened six of its high-end convenience stores
in Southern California and plans to have a bunch more in place by
year end.
But some foreign employers have recently left the state for better
offers, citing high operating costs and taxes. Last year, Nissan Motor
Co. announced it was moving its U.S. headquarters, which employed
1,300 people, from Gardena to Nashville. Carlos Ghosn, chief executive
of the Japanese auto firm, said Tennessee’s “favorable business and
taxation climate” played a role in the decision to move.
The Organization for International Investment, a Washington-based
lobbyist for foreign firms, has asked the California Franchise Tax
Board to amend its “discriminatory” policy of taxing transactions
between those firms and their California-based subsidiaries, including
royalty payments and interest on loans.
The board has agreed to consider that petition at its meeting
Wednesday.
“I think this is a case of the state sending a mistaken signal of
hostility to these companies when it’s not intending to,” said Todd
Malan, executive director of the group.
State officials argue that they are only trying to collect taxes on
income that is legitimately tied to business within California.
But Alex Spitzer, senior vice president of taxes for the
U.S. subsidiary of Switzerland-based Nestle, said the state’s tax
policies were one reason his company decided to put a $359-million
factory in Indiana instead of California. The food giant employs
7,500 people in California.
The disputed tax policy, he said, “is reflective of the attitude
California projects that, ‘We love the jobs but not the businesses
that create them.’ ”
* [email protected]

ROBERT KOCHARIAN: “WE WERE CLOSE TO CONCLUDE AGREEMENT WITH AZERBAIJAN SEVERAL TIMES”
Today.Az
18 September 2006 [13:33] – Today.Az
“Nagorno Karabakh’s people has determined its fortune and is
establishing its independent state now,” Armenian president Robert
Kocharian said in his speech at the Armenia-Diaspora Armenian Forum.
He stressed that the heroic struggle of “Arsakh” and the negotiations
are the inseparable part of Armenia’s 15-year independence.
“There were a lot of rises and falls in the negotiating process. We
were close to conclude an agreement with Azerbaijan to ensure freedom
of Nagorno Karabakh people several times. Unfortunately, we failed,”
Kocharian said.
According to APA, Armenian leader said there is no need to respond to
Azerbaijan’s militarist statements mentioning that only the people
with high spirit and professional army will gain victory. Kocharian
also stated that prior duty of all Armenians is to make public the
independence of Nagorno Karabakh all over the world.

RAUF DENKTASH: “TALAT PASHA MOVEMENT IS TURKEY’S BEATING HEART AGAINST THE ALLEGED ‘ARMENIAN GENOCIDE'”
Today.Az
18 September 2006 [13:37] – Today.Az
The European Parliament will bring five issues on Turkey to a vote
at the meeting from September 25 to 28.
APA’s Turkey bureau reports the five questions have been included
into the agenda at the insistence of French socialists.
These issues demand reproaching the Talat Pasha Movement, abolishing
the Movement by the Turkish government, recognizing the alleged
Armenian “genocide” as well as establishing diplomatic relations with
Armenia without any conditions and open the borders.
In addition, the offer on recognition of the alleged Armenian
“genocide” for the continuation of the agreement between Turkey and the
European Union will be brought to a vote at the European Parliament.
French socialists demand inclusion of an item on Turkey’s deliberately
refusing to recognize the so-called Armenian “genocide” into the
document to be adopted.
The Talat Pasha Movement’s Consulting Council held an emergency meeting
in Pera Palas hotel in Istanbul related to the European Parliament’s
offers. The discussions focused on actions to be taken against the
plan of the European Parliament.
Head of the Consulting Council, first President of the Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Rauf Denktash underlined that the Talat
Pasha Movement is Turkey’s beating heart against the alleged Armenian
“genocide” calling for the Turkish media to make efforts to support
Turkey’s rightful position.
Denktash stressed the importance of coordinating the developments
wit the Foreign Ministry.
The Movement’s chief coordinator Ferit Ilsever said they will carry
on in Europe. He said they will distribute 250,000 books exposing
the alleged Armenian “genocide” and hold a press conference in
Germany soon.
The aim of establishing the Talat Pasha Movement was to make the
parliaments having recognized the alleged “genocide” annul the bill
and make public the truths.
The Movement staged mass demonstrations in Lozanna and Berlin in
protest against the false genocide claims.
The Armenian ‘Dashnaksutyun’ and ‘Hinchak’ terrorist organizations
benefiting from the Ottoman Army’s involvement in the World War
I attempted to separate the country. But their attempts failed,
these organizations were banned and, the activists were arrested in
1915. Prime Minister Talat Pasha issued a decree on May 27, 1915 to
deport Armenians to the southern parts of the Ottoman Empire.
Talat Pasha was murdered by Armenian terrorist Tehleryan in Berlin
on March 18, 1921.

ITALIAN MEDIA BESEECHES POPE NOT TO GO TO TURKEY IN NOVEMBER
Hurriyet, Turkey
September 18, 2006 13:39
Following the controversy over words spoken on Islam by Pope Benedict
in Germany, Italian newspapers are beseeching the leader of the
Catholic church not to go ahead with his planned November visit to
Turkey. This week the Italian “Libero” newspaper carried an article
asserting “Ratzinger don’t go to Turkey! Your life is in danger due
to fanatics and the made-up stories of the media. They have declared
war against you. They want to kill you!”
The same “Libero” newspaper wrote this week that Turkey had “massacred
1.5 million Armenians,” and also recalled the murder earlier in the
year of Priest Andrea Santoro in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.
Meanwhile, the Italian “Corriere della Sera” newspaper carried an
article this weekend noting that the Pope, if he did visit Turkey
in November, might not in fact meet with the Turkish head of the
Religious Affairs Ministry, Ali Bardarkoglu. One of the staunchest
critics of the Pope over the past week has been Bardakoglu, who has
called for the Pope’s immediate apology for his Islam comments.

GEORGIAN ECONOMY LAGS BEHIND ITS NEIGHBOURS
By M. Alkhazashvili
Messenger.ge
Monday, September 18, 2006, #176 (1196)
Regardless of the frequent bombastic pronouncements from the top of
the Georgian political tree concerning the leaps and bounds Georgia
is making economically, most of the population live on the verge
of crushing poverty, and the economic growth of Georgia is lagging
behind its Caucasian neighbours, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
World Bank just named Georgia the best reformer inn the world in
terms of the ease of doing business this year. But in spite of this
encouraging data, Georgian economic development is far from enviable.
Unemployment and underemployment is huge, with vast swathes of the
rural population basically engaged in subsistence agriculture. Though
the government has recently come up with some eye catching initiatives
to tackle this problem, it is unclear how well thought out they are,
and just how successful they will be.
Economic expert Emzar Jgerenaia thinks that in spite of introducing
some new reforms and simpler regulations, major problems exist in
implementing them effectively. Writing in the newspaper Rezonansi
expert Soso Archvadze points to the example of Georgia’s southern
neighbour Armenia, where annual GDP per capita is USD 4700, well
ahead of Georgia’s USD 3300.
The richest of the South Caucasus countries is Azerbaijan. Of course
Azerbaijan owes this wealth to its hydrocarbon reserves, and risks
becoming over dependant on this industry and succumbing to ‘dutch
disease’: the deindustrialisation of a country’s economy after the
discovery of natural resources.
However, over the past two years more than 200 000 new jobs have been
created in Azerbaijan and President Aliyev is promising still more.
Georgia’s current economic woes are very much conditioned by its
political instability. The conflicts in Azerbaijan and South Ossetia,
the Internally Displaced Person problem, and a history of forceful
changes of leadership are not exactly the stuff of which economic
success stories are made.
Georgia must pursue its reforms with more focus, and make sure that
they are implemented by a fait and independent judiciary, which at
present is lacking, otherwise Georgia will continue to lag behind
its neighbours.

RULING PARTY OF AZERBAIJAN EXPANDS INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
Author: J.Shahverdiyev
Trend
Today 18.09.2006
The ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) is expanding international
relationships. The Deputy Chairman and the Executive Secretary of
the NAP, Ali Ahmadov, stated to a news conference held at the NAP
headquarters of the party on 15 September on the results of the 4th
General Assembly of the international conference of ruling political
parties of Asian countries organized in Seoul.
Ahmadov noted that the NAP prefers to cooperate with the parties in
power. “We cooperate with political parties functioning in different
countries, which hold political principles and political orientation
similar to ours. We expand the frames of such cooperation,” he
underlined.
the NAP Executive Secretary also noted that during the 4th General
Assembly he held meetings with heads of political parties. The
politician stressed his main objective was to inform them about
the truth on Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
and expand the bilateral cooperation. Ahmadov presented material on
Armenia’s annexation policy.
A delegation of the NAP held meetings with the heads of ruling parties
Uri, Korea, Unified Russia, Russia, the Justice and Development,
Turkey, Otan, Kazakhstan, as well as the Secretary General of the
International Democratic Union.
The constituent Assembly of the NAP was held in Nakhchivan Autonomous
Republic on 21 November 1992.
Heydar Aliyev was elected the chairman of the Supreme Majlis of the
party. At present the chairman of the NAP is the Azerbaijani President
Ilham Aliyev. The party unites over 400,000 people.

BULGARIA AND ROMANIA INCLUDED IN TRANSATLANTIC SURVEY
Polina Slavcheva
Sofia Echo, Bulgaria
Issue 37: Sep. 15-21 2006
LOVE-HATE: Bulgarians generally hold oppinions consistent with those
of EU countries and 37 per cent of people in the EU consider US
leadership in the world undesirable.
Five years after September 11 2001, the image of the United States
has not recovered from its steep decline after the war in Iraq,
the Transatlantic Trends 2006 survey said.
Decline was steepest in Germany, which showed 43 per cent of support,
down from 68 per cent in 2002.
The US-Germany cooling became even clearer on September 13 when
the head of the German investigation said that US policy in Iraq
had increased the terrorist threat around the world. German support
for NATO has fallen as well, as has support for the North Atlantic
alliance in Europe in general.
Italy, Poland and Turkey, countries traditionally perceived as
strong supporters of NATO, also show reduced figures of support. This
probably explains a certain isolationist trend among Americans that
the study identified.
The biggest twist, however, comes from Turkey. The EU candidate has
been cooling toward Europe and the US and warming toward Iran since
2004. On a 100-point thermometer scale, Turkish warmth toward the
US declined from 28 degrees in 2002 to 20 in 2006, and toward the
EU from 52 degrees to 45. Elif Shafak, the Turkish writer accused of
insulting Turkish national identity in a book about Turkish genocide
against Armenians, warned about that trend as well. On September 13,
she said that the case against her and other cases like hers could
actually stop Turkey’s negotiations with the EU.
And deepen Turkish orientation toward the Muslim world that the
study identified as well. Since 2004, Turkish warmth toward Iran
rose from 34 degrees to 43. As many as 56 per cent of Turkish people,
when asked if they minded Iran’s nuclear programme, said no.
“If I was asked to do that a month ago, I would not have been able to
predict such a result,” said the director of the Centre for Liberal
Studies in Bulgaria, Ivan Krustev.
For the first time, this year Bulgaria and Romania were included in
the Transatlantic survey as well.
The surprise coming from the Bulgarians, at least to Krustev, is that
Bulgarians generally hold opinions consistent with the line of EU
foreign policy, he said. At the same time, however, Bulgarians tend
to support Euro-isolationist views in the line of “the world should
leave the EU at peace”, rather than “the EU should try to fix the
world”, Krustev said.
Bulgarians see EU membership more as a way to escape the problems of
the world than a chance to solve them, he said.
In that, their opinions are closer to those of Slovakia than those
of other new and future EU members like Poland and Romania. The
new and future EU members are not a coherent block anyway, even if
their overall views on the EU and the United States do not differ
significantly from EU averages, the study said.
Seventy per cent of Romanians and 66 per cent of Poles support EU
global leadership and in that are closer to the 76 per cent EU average
than are Bulgaria and Slovakia. Only 56 per cent of Bulgarians and 50
per cent of Slovakians support strong EU leadership, and thus move away
from the EU trend to seek larger involvement in world affairs. European
support for a new EU foreign minister – one of the key reforms put
forth in the proposed constitutional treaty – is at a high 65 per
cent despite the French and Dutch EU “No” to the constitution.
And, contrary to public concerns about enlargement fatigue, Europeans
also see positive benefits from enlargement, which they connect
with the importance of encouraging democracy – a trend that will
increasingly find Europeans on the more active side, as opposed to
US citizens, researchers said.
When it comes to support for the policies of George W Bush, Bulgaria
and Slovakia are closer to the eight per cent EU average with their
20 and two per cent, respectively, of support than are Poland and
Romania, which score 40 and 42 per cent. Poles and Romanians, in fact,
show the greatest support of the US of all 13 surveyed countries.
Another peculiarity of Bulgarians is that they seem to be more
interested in what will be happening to Bulgaria in an EU context,
rather than what their and their country’s position in the world
should be, Krustev said.
For example, Bulgarians know little about the Bulgarian contingents in
Iraq and Afghanistan, and a lot about the case against the Bulgarian
nurses in Libya. This means that Bulgarian opinions on foreign policy
are still a reflex rather than a consciously taken position, he said.
Bulgarians also seem unable to form opinions as to whether Turkey’s
membership in the EU would be a good or a bad thing, Krustev said.
Most Bulgarians do not see Iraq as a threat, and evidence of that is
the marginalisation of the issue in Bulgarian media, Krustev said.
What is most striking, however, is the huge percentage of I-don’t-know
and I-can’t-answer responses.
Thirty-one per cent of Bulgarians could not answer if the US and
the EU have improved relations, even if that was a matter of general
knowledge, Krustev said.
This means that a third of Bulgarians have not thought on the issue
at all.
Transatlantic Trends is among the most influential public opinion
polls. It has been conducted since 2002 and is a project of the German
Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di San Paolo.
Additional support comes from the Fundacao Luso-American, Fundacion
BBVA, and the Tipping Point Foundation (Bulgarian).

AFFORDABLE RESORTS MAKE GEORGIA ATTRACTIVE IN SUMMER OR WINTER
By John Bordsen
The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
San Jose Mercury News, USA
Posted on Mon, Sep. 18, 2006
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
What’s it like to live in a far-off place most of us see only on a
vacation? Foreign Correspondence is an interview with someone who
lives in a spot you may want to visit.
Rusudan Kbilashvili, 26, is editor of the English edition of The
Georgian Times, a newspaper in Tbilisi, the capital of the republic
of Georgia. Georgia is northeast of Turkey and south of Russia – in
Eurasia, between the Black and Caspian seas. Kbilashvili is a native
of Tbilisi (“ta-ba-LEASE-ee”).
Q. Georgia is high in the Caucasus Mountains, and Tbilisi looks to
be in the middle of the country. What do you see out your window?
A. I am in an office close to the capitol, in a historical part of
Tbilisi where past merges with the present. You can pass buildings
with carved-wood balconies and enjoy the shadow of mountains in the
hot summer.
Tbilisi offers softness and quiet – softness of the light, of Tbilisi’s
warm red and green colors, the quietness of the city, and the calm
way people walk in the street.
Q. Georgia is an ancient country. What are the best historical
attractions?
A. You will not see even one hill without an Orthodox church or old
castle proudly erected on it. Bagrat Cathedral in Kutaisi, the western
part of Georgia; Gelati Monastery; and the historical monuments of
Mtskheta – close to Tbilisi – were the first Georgian sites included
in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Mtskheta was a capital of the kingdom of Georgia in the days of
ancient Rome.
Upper Svaneti was added to the list later. That was a site of Orthodox
culture during Georgia’s “golden age” around the year 1200.
Vardzia, a cave city in southern Georgia, near the border with
Armenia, was built in the 12th century by Queen Tamara. During much
of its history it was used as a monastery. The city was built high
in the cliffs to make it safe from invading Persians. Uplistsikhe,
the town carved out of sandstone in ancient times, is east of Gori
on the banks of the Mtkvari River.
Georgia is an ancient country with an ancient culture; it is also
a cradle of the first Europeans: Two little hominid skulls, about
1.8 million years old, were found during archaeological excavations
in Dmanisi
Q. What is the best season to visit?
A. Swimming season at seaside resorts starts in spring and ends in
autumn. Winter resorts can host visitors from late autumn till early
spring. So come whenever you like.
Q. Given the mountain terrain, is skiing popular? If so, what are
the top resorts or slopes? Are they expensive?
A. There are 340 resort places in Georgia. If you are casting about
for the ideal place to spend a ski winter, Georgia could be a true
skiing Shangri-La.
There are two developed ski areas in Georgia, and they are radically
different from one another.
Gudauri, in winter months, turns into a breathtaking fairy tale at
sunrise. It has guaranteed snow cover November to May. The average
depth is 1-5 meters (3.28-16.4 feet). Though high in the mountains,
warm, sunny and calm weather is typical for Gudauri. It has always
had the best slopes, but about a dozen years ago, Austrians came in
and completely rebuilt the lifts and turned Gudauri into a better
ski mountain.
Bakuriani remains popular because it has more resort features than
just skiing.
If you book through a travel agency, prices at hotels and sanatoriums
at the famous Georgian resorts start at $20 and go to $150, meals
included. But if you prefer to rent a room or house on your own, you
can get a bed for $2 to $7 and up to $10-$15, depending on amenities.
The travel agencies say the most popular places to relax in summer
season are the Black Sea coasts, though mountain resorts also do not
lack visitors.
Q. What is Georgian food all about?
A. Georgian cuisine uses familiar products but varies the amounts
of obligatory ingredients – such as walnuts, aromatic herbs, garlic,
vinegar, red pepper, pomegranate grains, barberries – and other spices.
You’ll find all possible kinds of meat, fish and vegetable hors
d’oeuvres, various sorts of cheese, pickles and pungent seasonings,
the only ones of their kind.
A “supra” is a table laid with traditional Georgian dishes; it is a
ritual with everlasting toasts. In a new book called “Post-Soviet
Feasting: The Georgian Banquet in Transition,” a German author,
Florian Muehlfried, says that when he arrived in 1996, there were
supras wherever he went: “Everywhere that men gathered, there was
always food and drink on the table. Even if there were just two
people at the table they would still choose a `tamada’ (toastmaster)
and make toasts.”
He found it interesting that he knew all the people sitting at the
table heard the toasts before, but still went through the ritual.
In the book, he emphasizes that the supra was a major way to preserve
Georgia’s oral history, especially in the 19th century and in Soviet
times, when Georgian traditions were suppressed.
Q. We hear stories about crime and corruption in countries that were
once part of the Soviet Union.
Georgia is also a Christian country that borders Turkey and Azerbaijan
– Islamic countries. Is Georgia a safe place for Americans to visit?
A. Georgia is as safe as any place in the world for any nationality,
especially Americans, and this is what tourists themselves say.
Besides, Georgia keeps friendly relations with its neighbors, and
they respect our foreign policy.
Corruption was a major problem in post-Soviet Georgia – a transitional
period – but corruption has noticeably decreased the last couple
of years.
Fighting corruption is a priority of the current government.
Q. The Soviet dictator Stalin was from Georgia. What do Georgians
think of him?
A. Gori, his birthplace, is among the few towns where Stalin’s statue
was not torn down after independence (in 1991). And some elderly
people still toast Stalin when they drink alcohol; they cannot accept
the views of the younger generation.
But these days, the Stalin museum is still a lonely place. Empty,
unheated halls no longer host the schoolchildren and tourists who
flooded the place in the old days.
Q. NBA players Zaza Pachulia and Nikoloz Tskitishvili are from
Tbilisi. Is basketball popular in Georgia?
A. Yes, it’s quite popular.
Q. Are people there aware that there’s a state in the United States
called Georgia?
A. Sure, and when Georgians are abroad, it was always confusing to
others about where Georgia is – the U.S. state of Georgia is far away
from the Caucausus.
The situation changed considerably after our Rose Revolution was
covered worldwide (in 2003, when protestors toppled the government
and a reform regime came to power). People around the world know more
about us now than they did during the Soviet era.
Q. Are people in your nation aware of a very famous song called
“Georgia on My Mind”?
A. Certainly. And foreigners visiting our country do keep it in mind,
and very often come back. Some even buy permanent residences in a
historical part of Tbilisi. They’re enchanted with the city’s beauty.

THE VISIONARY DOCTOR
Express Healthcare Management, India
Issue dtd. September 2006
Dr Alok Roy, Vice President, Fortis’ Centre for Community Initiative,
has to his credit the record of building the maximum number of
hospitals in India. But his heart beats for rural healthcare. He
talks to Sapna Dogra about his life, profession and dreams.
Micro health insurance, telemedicine, HIV/AIDS and corporate social
responsibility are the four areas where the 48-year-old Dr Alok
Roy’s heart lies these days. According to him, weak forces drive the
world because strong forces are very few and they can’t bring in any
change. Therefore, it is important to empower the weak and healthcare
is an intrinsic part of the process. To change the lives of the people
in the hinterland, corporate hospitals won’t really help, says the
philosopher doctor. These four arenas can change the lives of the
people, which is more important than merely providing treatment,
professes Dr Roy.
A Born Leader
Born in 1958 in Allahabad, Dr Alok Roy had a normal middle-class
upbringing. He is the youngest of the five siblings (two brothers and
three sisters), but calls himself the mentor as they all listen to his
advice. His father had a transferable job in the Central Government,
which made the family traverse the entire length and breadth of the
country, including Delhi, Maharashtra (Mumbai) and Orissa. “I guess
this is the reason that I don’t feel I belong to one region or state
but I feel for the entire country,” states Dr Roy. However, he has
a soft corner for Kolkata because he spent eight important years of
his professional life there and built four hospitals.
Being the youngest in the family, naturally he was naughty and
mischievous, but he was a bright student.
He used to play cricket in school and college, and was a part of
NCC. He was a shooter. He also contested in college elections and
won. “I would take part in each and every competition both at school
and college level,” he remembers. Though no one in his family was a
medico, since childhood Roy nurtured the ambition of being doctor. The
reason was noble. He thought a doctor could have an impact on other
people’s lives besides being respected by all.
As a youngster he used to read avidly since there was no TV then. He
devoured classics by literary luminaries like Premchand, Tarachand
Bandopadhaya et al. “I think vernacular literature is very rich and I
had read all the classics in Hindi and Bangla while I was in school,”
divulges Roy. Currently, he is reading ‘Managing Without Power’
by R Meredith Belbin.
According to him, “It is an interesting book on gender, which says
anything weak will sustain in the long run.”
Beginning Of An Illustrious Career
After class 12, he sat for the medical entrance test and was seventh
in merit for SCB Medical College, Cuttack in 1976. At that time, his
father was posted in Cuttack. In 1983, he joined the AIIMS for PG in
nuclear medicine. After that he did one year DRM from Mumbai. What
made him choose nuclear cardiology? “It was a lesser-known field that
time and I loved challenges,” he reasons. Also, there were limited
options; he wanted to do something different.
He had opportunities to go abroad at that time. “AIIMS was producing
PGs to go to the US,” he says. But the patriot in him didn’t want to
leave India and he decided to stay back because there was so much to
do here.
On May 10, 1988, he got an offer to join BM Birla Heart Centre. “That
time there were not many private hospitals in the country except
for a few like Jaslok Hospital and Bombay Hospital and though I got
a job as Assistant Professor at SGPGI Lucknow, I decided to join
the private hospital, which was a very bold step those days,” he
reminisces. Everyone was against this decision, but his wife Kavita
supported him all the way through.
He helped set up the 140-bed BM Birla Heart Research Institute in
Kolkata in 1989. He also managed the institute for about eight years,
during which period more than 8,000 major heart operations were
performed there. In 1996, he joined Manipal Heart Foundation (MHF)
and was responsible for the turnkey management at MHF, a 200-bed heart
hospital project. “It had six operation theatres to perform 12-14
heart surgeries a day and three cardiac catheterisation laboratories.
The centre performed 6,000 major heart surgeries in a record period
of less than four years,” says Dr Roy.
In the year 2000, he set up the 130-bed Rabindranath Tagore
International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, Kolkata for the working
class families of West Bengal in association with the Government of
West Bengal. He has also been successful in setting up the world’s
largest 780-bed super speciality heart hospital, Narayana Hrudayalaya
in Bangalore. The first phase of this hospital with 280 beds was
commissioned in April 2001 and has already achieved a path-breaking
record of performing over 4,500 surgeries, over a period of 18
months. He also built Armenian Church Trauma Centre in 2004.
In 2005, Roy joined Fortis Hospital Noida as its CEO and under his
guidance, the hospital has earned a name for world-class facilities
and treatment at affordable rates. “I wanted Fortis to be more than
just a healthcare delivery centre, it should work beyond the realm
of health providers; hence we started telemedicine, micro-health
insurance activities and, health camps,” says the visionary doctor.
Re-engineering of hospitals is Roy’s passion.
Recently, Rahul Gandhi entrusted him with the responsibility of
revamping the 300-bed Sanjay Gandhi Hospital at Amethi in Uttar
Pradesh, which was built in 1984. It is a not-for-profit hospital
which Roy would turnaround so that it can carry out 5,000 OPDs per
month and 6,000 surgeries per month.
Even as he heads a corporate hospital, Dr Roy says, “Corporate
hospitals don’t have the reach nor have the inclination to work for
the people of the hinterland.
If I can create two-three hospitals to serve the rural people that
would really satisfy me.”
Dr Roy has been instrumental in conceptualising and implementing
Asia’s biggest telemedicine initiative, ‘Integrated Telemedicine &
Telehealth Project’ (ITTP).
This network not only covers the entire length and breadth of the
Indian subcontinent, but also extends to other countries like Mauritius
and Malaysia. “The seed of telemedicine was sowed when I used to go
for camps in rural places and found that there was an acute need for
strong communications,” he says.
“I was in Kolkata working with the Rabindranath Centre and there
I thought about telemedicine as a bridge between the rural health
centres to the main hospitals in the city, as putting up more hospital
beds and clinics is obviously not the answer,” he adds.
Telemedicine – doctors advising treatment over the video – will help
a general practitioner in a remote area to hook up with an expert
in a more advanced urban centre. The virtual clinic is the only way
out, he says. It is about taking knowledge to people who need it,
adds Roy. The idea is to create knowledge centres.
“Telemedicine has been made possible in the country by the
Government. The Central Government provides satellites connectivity
and State Governments give their hospitals. I feel that public-private
partnership can reform the existing healthcare scenario,” professes
Roy.
He further says there are two major problems in the country: that
is health is either inaccessible or unaffordable. For making it
accessible, Roy says telemedicine is the answer and for making it
affordable only micro-health insurance can help.
Influences In Life
Roy has been greatly influenced by Mother Teresa with whom he
interacted on a daily basis while in Kolkata.
Her compassion and worldly views had an indelible impression on
him. “She was an intelligent lady,” he says. The Father of the Nation
Mahatma Gandhi is his role model. “Here was a man who could have
anything he wanted but he chose to forsake everything,” Roy says
and adds that, “There was a streak of detachment in him that’s very
important for everyone to have if you want to do great things.”
His father, who is also his role model, was democratic in every way
and let his children decide and be whatever they wanted to be. “I
have learnt to be patient and non-judgmental from him,” informs Roy.
Achievements
In physical sense and material gainsterms, the hospitals he built
and the accolades he won could be called his achievements. However,
for Dr Roy it is the people who linked with him and gained from him
made him feel very proud and contented with their achievements. And
he had mentored many a protege in his illustrious career. “There’s an
indescribable pride I feel deep inside me upon seeing their success,”
he says. Incidentally, Dr Roy is the only person to have built 17
hospitals in the country.
Time Off
Roy loves to go to hill stations for vacations with family. He has two
sons; the elder one is studying medicine at Stanley Medical College,
Madras and the younger one is in class 11 in Delhi. His wife works for
spastics children. He says, “My soul is trapped in the hills.” Every
year, for two weeks or so, he goes for trekking in the hills.
He likes to listen to old Hindi songs, but falls asleep after hearing
the first line. He has such busy schedule that he can fall asleep
in a fraction of seconds. “I don’t watch movies and have no clue
about actors or actresses,” says he. Interestingly, he goes for a
morning walk every morning and walks 3.5 kilometers. He also enjoys
horse riding.
Ambitions
Since Roy loves the hills, he feels for the people of the hills and
dreams of building a small 50-bed hospital and training facility
for the people of Uttaranchal. He also harbours another ambition
of bringing skill enhancements into rural health practitioners like
other traditional practitioners and even quacks.
“They consist of a good 50 per cent of the healthcare providers
besides the Homeopathy, Ayurveda etc. And since we can’t wish them
away, it is better to tell them about good and bad practices so they
would be careful while dealing with patients like washing hands,
knowledge of medicines knowledge etc,” says Roy.
“Whenever I visit the hills the resolve gets stronger to do something
for them,” he says assiduously. He is working 24×7 and doesn’t get
tired because as he says, “No one gets a second chance in life so
live every moment to the fullest.” And if given a chance, he would
live the same life all over again.
[email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress