First phase of Fortis medicity to be operational by 2010

Fortis Healthcare, promoted by former Ranbaxy owners Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh, plans to start the first phase of its medicity coming up in Gurgaon by October-November of 2010.

Half of the construction work has been completed and 250 to 400 beds will come up in the first phase, in an area of 1.5 million sq ft, Managing Director Shivinder Mohan Singh said in Navi Mumbai today.

He said the first phase would concentrate only on three specialties — cancer, trauma and child care. “Such specialty centres are very less in India and that is why we decided to start with (these three) in the medicity,” he said.

Within the next four to five years, other multi-specialty departments will take off, with a total of 1,000 beds.

Medanta, a medicity with a 1,250-bedded super specialty tertiary care hospital promoted by the noted cardiac surgeon, Naresh Trehan, is also coming up in Gurgaon. This project is expected to commence operations from October 1. Financial closure for that project was announced last week.

The Fortis International Institute of Medical Sciences’ medicity is envisaged as the flagship project of Fortis Healthcare.

Fortis, which runs 28 hospitals with a capacity of close to 3,200 beds, is planning to increase its capacity to 6,000 beds in about 40 hospitals by 2012, with an investment plan of over Rs 2,500 crore.

Shivinder said the company would raise Rs 1,000 crore through a rights issue in August. The funds would be used to set up the medicity, two greenfield hospitals and a small component of the remaining would be earmarked for inorganic growth.

He said the company has a track record of acquisitions in the past and would continue to do so in future. He declined to comment whether Fortis was still in the race for acquiring a stake in Wockhardt Hospitals.

Fortis Healthcare launched an advanced cardiac centre at its Navi Mumbai-based Hiranandani Hospital. A tertiary-level care hospital with five operating theatres and 150 operation inpatient beds, it is the first hospital of Fortis Healthcare in Maharashtra. Shivinder said the company has so far invested close to Rs 90 crore in the facility. Three weeks earlier, Fortis Healthcare entered a tie-up with the Mumbai-based S L Raheja Hospital to take charge of the operations and management of the facility.

With a turnover of Rs 660 crore, Fortis had a consolidated profit of Rs 20.8 crore for 2008-09, as against a net loss of Rs 55.5 crore in the corresponding period in 2007-08.