MIOT Hospitals on expansion drive

Chennai-based MIOT Hospitals is investing about Rs 25 crore in extending its 250-bed facility to 335 beds and building a college of nursing; both of which are expected to be completed by this year end.

"We will add on 85 rooms as part of the extended care facility and build a college of nursing. We already have a school for nursing which is a three-and-a-half-year course, the college course will be four-and-a-half years. There will be an intake sometime in June or July and the students will be housed in a temporary accommodation," said Mallika Mohandas, chairperson, MIOT Hospitals.

The college would enroll 50 students, while the intake at the school is 20 students. The extended care facility mainly serves patients from outside Chennai, including overseas.

"Patients after treatment are sent to the extended care facility where three people can be accommodated in a room. The facility provides physio-therapy and is equipped with a gym and a cybercafe," added Mohandas.

Between July 2001 and March 2005, MIOT has clocked revenues of Rs 22.4 crore from overseas patients. The hospital had won award instituted by the Federation of Indian Exports Organisations (FIEO) called the Niryat Shree/Bandhu gold trophy award for the year 2002-03 for their export performance. MIOT is hoping to double the Rs 6.5 crore revenues that it earned from overseas patients in 2004-05 in 2005-06.

International patients go in for MIOT's special surgeries such as the computer navigated surgery for total knee replacement, bye-pass surgery on the beating heart, correctional spine surgery and micro-surgeries in brain tumours.

To date, MIOT has served approximately 3,100 international patients from 14 countries, including the Middle East, Africa, Seychelles, Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Canada.

It has also been conferred the 'favoured hospital' status by ministries of health of the governments of Seychelles, Oman, UAE, Kuwait and Bhutan.