Eye-Q eyes N Karnataka for eye hospitals

An attempt to take eyecare to the doorsteps of people in many of the smaller towns and villages is being made. Eye-Q, the brainchild of Dr Ajay Sharma, an eye surgeon from Delhi with over 10,000 surgeries to his credit, aims to take eyecare to tier-3 and tier-4 cities.

The start-up firm aims to have a chain of eye hospitals in tier-3 and 4 cities. It aims to use the hub and spoke model, where it will have one super-speciality eye hospital with multiple operation theatres and manned by about 10 doctors. It will have a few hospitals attached to it in the neighbouring places.

While the group has firmed up plans for north and west, it is looking to replicate the hub and spoke model in north Karnataka. Hubli can be the hub and Bellary, Gulbarga can be the spokes, said Rajat Goel, CEO and MD, Eye-Q. To cut cost, they have facility to transport costly equipment from one hospital to other where it is needed. Goel is an alumni of IIM-A and has roped in a few others into the venture.

Eye-Q over the last one year or so has set up four hospitals - at Gurgaon and Rewari in Haryana, Haldwani in Uttaranchal and Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan. "After getting a grip over things, the firm has been able to achieve efficiency. What we set out to achieve in six years has been accomplished in just three and a half years," said Dr Sharma.

Eye-Q has so far tied-up funds for 20 hospitals. All hospitals have been funded by the promoters themselves who also include a few high net worth individuals. It has also raised bank loans to fund expansion.

According to the promoters, the return on investment is extremely high, upto 30 per cent at times.

By 2008-end it plans to set up 14 centres. By 2009, the group aims to have 28-30 hospitals up and running. Since starting the first few hospitals, Eye-Q has been able to cut the cost of starting a hospital by 60 per cent.

Their plan, to be implemented in three stages, will see 100 hospitals by 2010. Each hospital entails an average investment of Rs 1 crore to Rs 1.1 crore per hospital on the equipment. They will only lease or rent properties and not have any property of their own.

Eye specialists are being made directors of the facilities where they join and are given right to take decisions. The chain, meanwhile, also wants to set up institutes as centres of excellence which will be started in tie-ups with hospitals and equipment manufacturers. They can train people to ensure the hospitals have a steady supply of professionals to man the hospitals. The hospitals that will be the hub will have high-end equipment.

Cunsultation fees charged vary from place to place. It is Rs 400 in DLF Gurgaon, Rs 200 in Old Gurgaon, Rs 100 in Rewari, Sri Ganganagar and Haldwani in Utarranchal. The charges vary from place to place even for various procedures.

A cataract surgery costs Rs 23,000 in new Gurgaon, Rs 19,000 in old Gurgaon, Rs16,000 at Rewari and other such centres. There are various other packages for cataract surgery which could vary from Rs 5,000 to Rs 23,000 in small cities.

For the poor, Eye-Q Foundation will perform free surgeries and OPD services. "We set up our rates keeping in view the existing rates in a city," said Dr Sharma.