Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd. plans regional specialty ICU hospitals | INRnews
The Company intends to expand its reach in the high-end intensive care segment by setting up standalone regional ICU hospitals, with 30 to 80 beds (approximately 25% of which are ICU beds), which will complement the tertiary care model by providing intensive care and higher secondary care services. It currently has two regional ICU hospitals in Vashi, Mumbai and Chord Road, Bangalore. These regional ICU hospitals are typically staffed with approximately 30 doctors and trained intensive care specialists who provide 24 hour emergency service every day of the week.
The Company intends to increase its market share in intensive care and also extend the local reach by setting up additional regional ICU hospitals. In the long term, it also expects its regional ICU strategy to contribute to the reduction of average length of stay at its super-specialty hospitals, because patients are able to receive critical care at regional ICU hospitals prior to referral to the super-specialty hospitals.
The Company plans to leverages growth model with flexible expansion plans. Since 2000, it has grown from three hospitals, with 139 beds, to a network of 10 super-specialty hospitals and five regional specialty ICU hospitals, with a total of 1,374 inpatient beds. It employs a flexible approach in the expansion plans, opportunistically engaging in either greenfield or brownfield projects depending on the best available alternatives. The Company has the ability to successfully complete new projects (on average to date, Greenfield projects within 18 to 24 months and brownfield projects within six to twelve months) coupled with the focus on super-specialty tertiary care enables it to achieve cash break-even within relatively short periods of time (on average, within one to two years). In particular, in brownfield projects, it can minimize ramp up time, capital investments and cash outflows, and instead focus on the core competencies of operating hospitals and providing advanced tertiary care and higher secondary care to the patients.
Wockhardt Hospitals Ltd. plans to invest Rs 5,695 million to meet the cost of construction, expansion and development of greenfield and brownfield hospitals of the Company. Wockhardt Hospitals has established a national footprint with its superspecialty hospitals in western, southern and eastern India. In northern India, it has plans for a Greenfield hospital in Delhi, for which it has already acquired the property, and as part of its brownfield projects, it intends to manage a cardiac hospital in Ludhiana. In central India, it has ongoing brownfield hospital projects in Bhopal and Jabalpur.
The Wockhardt brand is respected nationwide for the Wockhardt group's strength and nearly 35-year heritage as a global participant in the pharmaceutical industry. Its national footprint, with a presence in many leading and emerging metropolitan areas, has allowed it to leverage the Wockhardt name and establish Wockhardt Hospitals as a healthcare services delivery brand, which is recognized across the country. Its pan-India presence and recognition give patients confidence that they will receive high quality healthcare services wherever they are located, and also help it recruit skilled doctors and nurses both from within India and overseas.
By INRnews Correspondent