The Hindu Business Line : Panacea’s Rs 80-cr hospital to be ready by 2010

Mumbai, July 10 Lessons from its first greenfield hospital, coming up in the National Capital Region (NCR), will be significant in the future course that Panacea Biotech takes in the healthcare sector.

“We have just put our feet in water,” said Mr Rajesh Jain, Panacea’s Joint Managing Director, of its first hospital being set up along with the Umkal group. But the company will look at both organic and inorganic methods to grow the business, he told Business Line, indicating that acquisitions were part of the plan.

It will, however, take another two years before the roadmap is clear, he said, adding that much would depend on learnings from the first hospital project. It is important that the first hospital be set up from scratch to meet parameters laid out by Panacea, he added.

With an investment of about Rs 80 crore, the 200-odd bed hospital is slated to become operational by January 2010. Panacea has acquired majority stake (76 per cent) in Umkal Medical Institute Pvt Ltd (a company promoted by Dr Umesh Gupta of the Umkal group) for the first hospital. Umkal has three existing hospitals in and around the capital region, Mr Jain said. The project is being funded through a mix of debt and equity, he added.

Research

Earlier this year, Panacea had opened a research centre in Navi Mumbai, with about 50 people, to work on advanced drug delivery systems, among other things. This would be Panacea’s fifth research centre in the country. The company has 283 researchers across its different research centres. Panacea Biotech shares closed down over 3 per cent, at Rs 303.80 on the BSE.