On March 23, President Obama created waves when he passed the health care reform bill. A President who was perceived to be under-performing was elevated to the status of a statesman who, people expect, will now also apply his drive and vision to other areas like world peace and economic revival. Health care is a major contributor to US GDP. Yet despite huge spends in that sector,  large sections of the US population, particularly the underprivileged  were left out of the health care net. The expansion of coverage of additional 32 million Americans takes care of that, but on the other side of the equation is the waste and excess created by paying doctors and hospitals for the quantity of treatment they provide, which often is unnecessary and may even prove harmful.  The new bill will be judged on whether it actually provides for a better and fairer health care system or if instead it will spiral the cost of health care further and open up a world of unintended medical consequences.  Obama’s team however, is confident that the new law will work if implemented effectively, efficiently and with great accountability. While President Obama is doing his best in the US, I must concede that our political leaders here have been trying to improve health care in Goa as well.  A government ambulance is available on call any time,  at a reasonable cost. Expensive treatment in dentistry is available at very low prices at the Goa Dental College & Hospital. The government is even contemplating offering health insurance to all patients upto Rs 60,000 per annum.  Consider now how health care impacts the  stake holders in our state. There is the pharmaceutical sector which is the third largest contributor to the state GDP. There is the hospital sector which is expanding, with some reputed Indian and foreign players entering Goa in the past couple of years.

There is also the Government which runs some of the largest hospitals like the Goa Medical College and also a network of  health care centres.   The health sector now   needs  trained managers to handle the expanding health infra structure and allied services like health insurance and diagnostics. Many of the Management Institutes across the country are now focusing on structuring specialized curriculums to train in health care management to meet the urgent ‘need of the immediate future’.

Every year, in the early part of April, the Indian Advertising profession holds its biggest and most prestigious meet “ Goafest”. Goa has become the venue for the past 5 years, for around 3000 advertising professionals who converge to hear Indian and Foreign advertising gurus talk about the latest developments in the field.  The highlight of the meet are the Awards which  are given for creativity and innovation.  Indian advertising is slowly achieving a world class standard. Many would know that in India the profession was initiated in Mumbai by some very talented goans  such as Gerson D’Cunha, Frank Simoes, Ivan Arthur and others who became skilled copywriters, visualisers and advertising strategists. Some even started their own advertising agencies.

The GCCI is all for encouraging enterprise in women. Hence,  Asturi is the most important event in our calendar. We see huge potential in  allowing women’s  talents to come to the fore. Most of them have natural business sense, are extremely sincere workers  and get their work done  efficiently.  Asturi is an expression of Women power - the power to create products and services, to market them  and thereby create value and employment.

Increasingly, goan consumers are doing their shopping in large numbers at the many exhibitions being organized in the main towns. Exhibitions, unlike seminars or talks require a lot of planning, organization, marketing and people management . The GCCI women’s wing exceeded themselves at the recent Asturi Fair  with the solid effort they put in. They were ably led by Pratima Dhond, Chairperson, Women’s Cell, committee members Varsha Pai Raiker, Amol Morajkar, Supriya Sinari, Bhavna Raikar and others, and assisted by the staff at  the GCCI who helped in enrolling  and motivating the participants  for Asturi 2010.  We are thankful to our members Shrinivas Dempo, Ralph de Souza, Nitin Kunkolienker, Anil Counto, Kirit Maganlal, Pravas Naik who supported this event through sponsorship of the stalls as also to Women’s Co-op Bank and Canara Bank, Handicrafts Rural and SSI Dev. Corpn., Tourism Dept., SAG and AIDS Control Society.  Our very special thanks to Narayan (Nana)Bandekar for sponsoring the event with a donation of Rs. 3 lakhs. Other members who deserve our thanks are New Millenium Bakers and Nestle India Ltd. for sponsoring prizes.

Revivals always follow recessions though the length of the last downturn made many of us wonder whether it would happen. The record sales of automobiles in the last few months is evidence of  this revival.  More important, the Sensex nearly touched the 18000 mark after 25 months. While often we are unprepared for a recession,  how many of us are ready for the  upturn in the economy and the implications involved in the ‘growth in demand’? There is inevitably a growth in demand  and this growth implies inducting more staff in marketing and other areas. Also the production has to be ramped up in order to ensure that there are no gaps in availability or stock outs.

We have inductedGen. S.F. Rodrigues PVSM, VSM (Retd.), ex-Chief of Army Staff to be Honorary Member of the ManagingCommittee.  Gen. Sunith Rodrigues hasrecently returned after a successful five year term as Governor of Punjab andAdministrator of U.T. Chandigarh.  Hisinduction will certainly add value to the Chamber.

Cesar Menezes
(President - GCCI)