International healthcare firm Columbia Asia will invest over Rs 400 crore to set up two new hospitals in India by the end of 2019 as it looks to expand presence in the country.
The chain currently has 11 multi-speciality hospitals in India with over 1,000 beds in cities such as Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Mysuru, Gurugram, Ghaziabad, Patiala and Pune.
“We are planning to open two hospitals in the country by the end of 2019. The investment on this will be over Rs 400 crore”, Columbia Asia India Chairman, CEO and GMD Nandakumar Jairam told PTI.
The new hospitals will be located in Bengaluru and Pune, he added.
“With the opening of these two hospitals we will be adding around 400 beds as we feel optimum size for multi- speciality hospitals in our country is 200 beds”, Jairam said.
The company believes in the concept of clusters. So after opening the hospital in Bengaluru, the company will open the Pune hospital, he added.
Both the hospitals will be greenfield hospitals, Jairam said.
When asked how the company plans to fund the expansion, he said: “It will be through a mix of equity and debt. It will be 60 per cent equity and 40 percent debt”.
Speaking about the future of healthcare in India, he said that healthcare in the country is in a process of evolution. At present, nearly 70 per cent of healthcare is provided by the private healthcare players.
Going forward, private healthcare will be the principal provider and the government is likely to become much more a payer than being a provider. There is also greater need for accountability and transparency in the sector, he said.
Columbia Asia has 28 medical facilities across Asia, with 11 facilities in Malaysia, 11 in India, 3 in Vietnam and 3 in Indonesia. It started operations in India in 2004.
Source: Economic Times