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WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (OneWorld.net) - After studying and working in the United States, Ashwin Naik has returned to his native India to launch a set of rural health care facilities that he hopes will help bridge the massive gap between the rich and poor in the rapidly developing country.

© BiD Network FoundationThere is fabulous wealth in India today, and the country's economic clout is only growing by the day. But almost all that wealth -- and the ease and security of life that comes with it -- is concentrated in the country's urban areas. While 80 percent of India's health care investment is in metropolitan areas, nearly 80 percent of the population still lives in rural or semi-urban areas.

Naik's burgeoning health care company Vaatsalya, which means "motherly affection" in Sanskrit, is hoping to start tipping that balance back the other way. Its first hospital opened in 2005, and today there are four hospitals -- all in Karnataka state in southern India. The company hopes to quickly double that number thanks to a new infusion of venture capital earlier this year, and it plans to build a nationwide network of hospitals within five years.

"On a daily basis, our team members are helping families across semi-urban India live better lives and take care of their loved ones' health in an affordable and efficient setting," Naik said in September after Vaatsalya was nominated as one of India's "hottest startups" in a competition sponsored by the TATA company.

Naik's hospitals are beginning to provide professional medical services -- from pediatrics and gynecology to general care and even surgery -- in parts of the country where such things were never available before. And Naik's plans all include a special emphasis on preventative care -- something rarely found in the world's poorer areas.

"We realized that there was not only an opportunity to do good, but also have a sustainable business."Services at a Vaatsalya hospital generally cost about one sixth of what they would cost at an urban hospital, Naik says, but the real savings run much deeper. By bringing services closer to people in rural areas, not only are local people more likely to access them at an earlier stage -- when treatment might be simpler and cheaper -- but they do not have the expense of traveling to an urban area, nor does the family lose wages for the days they are away from home.

At 35, Naik is not just a doctor, but a shrewd businessman too. He's seen the numbers that show India's middle class growing by as many as 500 million people by the year 2015. With that will come a new demand for preventive care and quality health services.

Indeed, health care is already big business in India, but Naik believes that, as economic realities change throughout the country, it will soon be enormous business, just like in the United States. Naik hopes his company will be properly positioned to capture a large slice of that business over the coming years.

"We realized that there was not only an opportunity to do good, but also have a sustainable business," Naik told India's Economic Times in June.

In the process, he aims to revolutionize the Indian health care system and rectify a massive inequity in Indian society.

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