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P.T. Jyothi Datta

At a project cost of Rs 100 crore each, work on two tertiary hospitals is expected to begin in four months. The company will also pursue plans to set up secondary level multi-speciality hospitals.

NEW DELHI, Jan. 27

FORTIS Healthcare Ltd, promoted by the Ranbaxy-family, is poised to embark on its plans to set up two tertiary-level hospitals in the ortho-neuro and cardiac or neuro specialities.

The development is significant, given the healthcare company's long-term plan of being an all-India player in the segment.

Mr Vinay Singhal, CEO, Fortis Healthcare, told Business Line that having set up its Heart Institute at Mohali, Chandigarh, in a record 18 months' time, the healthcare company was looking at replicating the example at two other locations in the National Capital Region (NCR).

At a project cost of an estimated Rs 100 crore each, work on the tertiary hospitals is expected to commence in four months. Simultaneously, the company will also pursue its plans to set up secondary level multi-speciality general hospitals, at a cost of Rs 10-20 crore per centre.

On how the company planned to fund its projects, he said that they were "exploring every possibility to source funds in the cheapest way." The Mohali project was financed between the promoters, the late Dr Parvinder's family (of Ranbaxy), Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd and three public sector banks - Punjab National Bank, Bank of India and Canara Bank. Fortis would also look at IFC, Washington, he said. The Project Information Memorandum would be submitted in about three months, he added.

The healthcare company was planning to look at a collaborative mode for its secondary-level hospitals, where it would take over running facilities, he said. The commissioning of four of these multi-speciality general hospitals at Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandar and Ambala is expected in 2002-03.

Fortis has mammoth plans for the segment, with investment plans to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years. "In five years' time, two more tertiary-level hospitals and about seven more medical centres are on the anvil for the NCR alone." With India being behind the healthcare parameters of even the developing world - such as Thailand, Malaysia and China - corporatisation of healthcare has not yet made much of a dent to the healthcare delivery system in the country, he observed.

Fortis Healthcare Ltd had the Ranbaxy family of the late Dr Parvinder Singh holding 84 per cent equity, while Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd holds the remaining 16 per cent. He said that the company was "not averse to diluting equity but at the opportune moment."

The company has plans for the health insurance segment and is waiting for more clarity on the parameters governing the segment. Slated to break even in five years of operation, the company expects to clock cash profits in its second year of operation.

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