Wockhardt Hospitals plans expansion in Gujarat

Wockhardt Hospitals wants to make its presence felt in Gujarat. After announcing the launch of a hospital in Rajkot, the company has talked of opening a new heart hospital in Surat.

The group is also open to exploring the outcomes of the Gujarat government's announcement for privatisation of hospitals.

Speaking to Business Standard, Vishal Bali, CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals said, "We are looking for other opportunities at centres like Ahmedabad and Vadodara in coming days, although nothing concrete has been finalized for Ahmedabad and Vadodara at this stage."

Wockhardt Hospitals currently runs a cluster of super speciality hospitals with dedicated super-speciality health care service delivery including cardiology, neurology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology and minimal access surgery, but would mainly focus on the model governed by the needs of the region.

"At present, we are into five core super-speciality areas, where cardiology and cardiac surgery is our driver speciality in 7 heart hospitals located across the country. But in future we are planning hospitals that would be governed by the needs of the region ," said Bali.

After expanding its presence across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, the company is planning to shield its presence in other states too, "We are looking at a total investment of about Rs 500 crores in the next 3-4 years from now in India, wherein we are looking towards our presence across a number cities of in coming days," said Bali.

The group is planning to invest heavily in areas of research and development since 90 per cent of its clientele is from countries like US and UK.

The company's collaboration with Harvard Medical International (HMI), the international arm of Harvard Medical School, USA, has provided access to the US approved latest clinical protocols, innovations and patient care practices.

This association with Harvard has enabled Wockhardt Hospitals in Mumbai to earn the distinction of being the first super-speciality hospital in South Asia to achieve accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), considered to be the gold standard in the healthcare quality in the world.

Wockhardt Hospitals, with a network of 10 hospitals across Mumbai, Banglore, Kolkotta, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Rajkot is looking towards delivering super-speciality services bundled with critical care and intensive care services for which the current strength would be doubled.

"We are planning to double our strength in coming days, for which we are open to any announcements of privatization of health services as announced by any state governments, recently Government of Gujarat has announced privatization of health services, which is being scanned proactively and we are open to participate in any kind of change process, if government invites us as we would be keen on participating in any form as a good health care provider," added Bali.