Madurai-based healthcare player Meenakshi Mission Hospital will invest over ₹280 crore for their expansion plans in India and overseas in the next one year.

The healthcare player will use ₹250 crore to add 250 beds to its 1,000-bed hospital in Madurai and ₹30 crore for establishing clinics in Kenya, Muscat and Dubai.

Speaking to BusinessLine , S Gurushankar, Chairman, Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) said the expansion in Madurai will cater to the affluent and to medical tourists. This is in line with the increase in medical tourism from Africa and West Asia and local demand. It will be operational after a year, he added.

In Kenya the hospital will open clinics with telemedicine and dialysis facility in another six months with technicians trained in the newly established centre in Madurai.

The institution has partnered with an agency, which he did not want to name, in the US that has tie-up with hospitals in Kenya.

“We will leverage the connection the agency has with the hospitals in Kenya to establish clinics in Nairobi, Kenya,” he added.

MMHRC operates eight telemedicine centres in rural areas in and around Madurai. A telemedicine robot is installed in each of these centres along with a trained technician who will guide people in using the facility for free.

“We have a remote doctor who will diagnose and prescribe e-medicine, which they can avail at a local pharmacy,” Gurushankar said. This is the model MMHRC is commercialising in Kenya.

Gurushankar said there is a huge need for such services in Kenya.

MMHRC is also looking at Muscat and Dubai for its overseas expansion.

To improve quality of nurses, the hospital has built a nursing college in Madurai. Gurushankar said, the hospital has partnered with international colleges in the US and will adopt their teaching methodologies.

“Once the approvals are in place, we will be able to start the course by next academic year,” he added.

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