The Hindu Business Line : Eye-Q setting up eye hospital chain

Reasons
Northern and western India are served by single-doctor-owned centres, and charitable organisations.
The doctors graduating from AIIMS work for charity organisations, assisting surgeons or doing shadow surgery in someone else's clinic.
Eye-Q to identify such doctors and set up small hospitals for them outside the metros.

New Delhi May 2 The northern and western parts of India will see a chain of specialised eye care centres, Eye-Q, coming up in the region with an estimated investment of around Rs 240 crore over a period of five years.

New venture

"While the South has some centres of excellence such as Aravind Eye Hospital and Sankara Nethralaya, northern and western India are predominantly served by single-doctor-owned centres, and charitable organisations," says Mr Rajat Goel, CEO of this new venture.

Hoping to bring the best of technology and quality service to eye care, the company is to set up these hospitals on a hub and spoke model, starting in the NCR region.

The first super speciality hospital with multiple operation theatres, served by 10 doctors, two smaller `spoke' hospitals at Rewari, and Dwarka are expected to be operational soon, all at a total investment of Rs 10 crore.

Phase II, in the company's plans, consists of five hub hospitals and 10 spokes, to come up over a period of two years at an additional cost of Rs 40 crores. In five years' time, the company would have invested Rs 240 crore in 30 hubs and 70 spokes, says Mr Goel.

"The huge investment in the health sector is primarily in heart and orthopaedic areas. Doctors who graduate from institutions such as AIIMS have nowhere to go. They either land up working for charity organisations, assisting surgeons or doing shadow surgery in someone else's clinic," says Mr Goel.

Eye-Q will identify such doctors and invest in them, setting up small hospitals outside the metros where the doctors, as medical directors can have a stake.

To build brand

"We are looking to build a brand that's recognised for its integrity and transparency," says Mr Goel, assuring patients will not be surprised with huge bills. Promoted by Dr Ajay Sharma and Mr Goel, Eye-Q's growth plans include greenfield projects and acquisitions of practices, that they will then scale up.

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