Wockhardt Hospitals plans Rs 5.69 bn investments in hospital projects | INRnews
The key elements of the growth strategy include strengthen position in major metropolitan areas and establish presence in selected smaller Tier II cities. 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. Besides establishing additional healthcare facilities, the company plans to strengthen its presence in major metropolitan areas, such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi, by expanding the current operations through new greenfield and brownfield projects, as well as increasing beds.
It is planning to strengthen its presence in major metropolitan areas, such as Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi, by expanding current operations through new greenfield and brownfield projects, as well as increasing bed capacity at the existing hospitals. For example, it is currently expanding our bed capacity at Wockhardt Hospital, Mulund and it intends to add 270 beds in total. The Mulund (Mumbai) facility is super-specialty hospital which is one of the first hospitals in South Asia that received international accreditation from Joint Commission International ("JCI"), the largest accreditor of healthcare organizations in the United States.
The Company is pursuing brownfield projects in selected Tier II cities, such as Madgaon (Goa), Bhopal, Nashik, Bhavnagar, Ludhiana, Jabalpur, Bhuj, Patna, Hubli and Varanasi. In most of these Tier II cities, it expects to be among the first major private healthcare services providers to commence focused tertiary care operations, which it believes will help it attract patients, recruit better medical personnel and establish benchmarks for care and sustainable operations. The evaluation criteria for new opportunities include the demographics and revenue potential of the local population, the competitive landscape, location and cost, and for existing facilities, the skill, specialty and reputation of doctors and other medical and non-medical staff, the work culture of the institution and the quality of the infrastructure.
The Company intends to leverage growth model with flexible expansion plans that would improve profitability at the existing mature hospitals and increase occupancy rates at newer hospitals. There would be focus on high value end of the healthcare services market while developing network of regional specialty ICU hospitals. During fiscal year ended March 31, 2007, the Company performed over 10,000 interventional cardiac procedures, 1,000 orthopedic procedures and 400 neuro and spine surgeries. It also performed over 2,100 minimally invasive procedures during the same period.
The Company has been using minimally invasive surgical techniques in most of its specialties (approximately 7% to 10% of its surgical operations, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007) and it intends to expand its use to a wider range of procedures. Patient recovery time is shorter in minimally invasive surgeries, freeing up beds for other patients and reducing the average length of stay at our hospitals. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2007 and the nine months ended December 31, 2007, the average length of stay at the hospitals was 4.7 and 4.4 days, respectively.
At the new hospitals, which it has operated for less than three years, it plans to increase occupancy rates through extensive marketing (especially during the first year of the hospital), expansion of its referral network and increase in community outreach programs to gain market share in the regions in which it operates. Wockhardt Hospitals has established a national footprint with its Wockhardt brand which is respected nationwide for the group's strength and nearly 35-year heritage as a global participant in the pharmaceutical industry. With a presence in many leading and emerging metropolitan areas, it has allowed to leverage the Wockhardt name and establish Wockhardt Hospitals as a global healthcare services delivery brand from India.
By INRnews Correspondent