Healthy margins elusive for health care business

Fortis, recently accused of overcharging patients by 25 to 1,208% on items used in certain treatments, reported a loss last year

The ‘astronomical’ three-digit profits that private hospitals are said to be extracting from patients on items like syringes and other consumables fail to show up in the single-digit profit margins earned by the top health care chains. 

Leading health care chain, Fortis, recently accused of overcharging patients by 25 to 1,208 per cent on items used in certain treatments, reported a loss last year. The company’s Ebidta margin is in the range of 5-6 per cent. Fortis Healthcare has not declared any dividend to shareholders for the past several years and it sits on a debt. 

Fortis said one should look at