C K Birla group up Rs 270 cr investment in healthcare

The C K Birla Group has firmed Rs 270 crore in investments for modernising and setting up new hospitals in the country.

"We are opening a new 250-bed hospital in Jaipur at a cost of around Rs 190 crore. It will be called Rukmani Birla Hospital & Research Institute and is expected to be inaugurated early next year," C K Birla group CEO (health care) S P Singh told PTI here.

It would be scaled up gradually to a 500-bed hospital along with a medical college over the next five years, he said.

The group would also soon begin major modernisation of its two existing hospitals in Kolkata at an estimated cost of Rs 60-80 crore, Singh said.

The group manages The Calcutta Medical Research Institute and B M Birla Heart Research in the metropolis.

With the proposed modernisation, the combined capacity of both hospitals would increase to 700-750 beds from 600 beds at present.

Singh said once the projects were completed then the group would set up another hospital in West Bengal, but the location was yet to be finalised.

"We have a plot of land at Siliguri, but we have not decided the location of the third hospital in the state," he said.

The hospitals are not for profit institutions and are run by trusts.

CMRI CEO Suyash Borar said if the West Bengal government brought an enabling environment for a health city, the group would be keen in committing investment.