Apollo Gleneagles plans hospital expansion projects

Kolkata: Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, a joint venture between Apollo Group and the Singapore-based Parkway Health, will invest Rs 1,400 crore in the next two years to set up 2,000 more beds in the country, Mr Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said here on Saturday.

A large chunk of the investment will go into building hospitals while an estimated Rs 150 crore will be spent on doubling the number of pharmacies from the existing 600.

The company will be adding 600 beds in two new hospitals in Mumbai in the next two years in a joint venture, one with JP Morgan and the other with a Yash Birla- promoted company, said Ms Suneeta Reddy, Executive Director, Finance, Apollo Group.

“We have also streamlined plans for adding 400 beds in Chennai of which 250 will be incremental ones in our existing facilities and the rest will be put up in a greenfield hospital,” she added.

Apollo also has plans to add 400 beds in Hyderabad, and 200 each in Bhubaneswar and Vizag, Mr Reddy said.

New hospitals:

The hospital chain is also looking at adding 10-15 hospitals in the Tier-II and Tier-III cities, including three to four in West Bengal, each having 100-150 beds, he said.

“We have finalised plans for setting up two hospitals in Tiruchi and Tiurpur in Tamil Nadu and two in Karimnagar and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, while another will be added in Nagpur,” Ms. Reddy said.

Funding plans:

Apollo has already raised Rs 400 crore in equity and the rest will be raised mostly through debt. “We will also add Rs 250-300 crore each year through internal cash flows,” she said. A part of the money will be used for acquisition of higher secondary and tertiary care hospitals across the country, the Apollo chairman said.

Nursing training facility:

Meanwhile, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who was present at the inauguration of the day care and nursing training facility at the hospital premises here announced that the Sagar Dutta State General Hospital will be taken over by the Apollo Gleneagles for building a hospital and medical college.

“We will keep the existing 131 beds free of cost and add another 300 beds on 25 acres of adjacent land. The project will entail an investment of Rs 100 crore. The hospital may be given out on lease on a long-term basis by the State,” Mr Reddy said.
The Medical College will have Graduation, Post Graduation and para medical courses. Initially, 150 doctors and 100 nurses will be passing out each year, he added.