Tier-2 hospitals foray into city to turn major league

The healthcare providers are setting up facilities in the city that is expected to boost the total healthcare capacity of Chennai by 2,000 beds in the next 2 years. This will create an additional capacity of around 5,000 plus beds in the State’s healthcare ecosystem. 

A slew of new projects is set to take-off. The MK Rajagopalan-led Mahatma Gandhi Medical College & Research Institute (MGMCRI) has identified a 4 lakh sqft ‘Ramaniyam’ building to earmark its entry in the corporate healthcare segment. The 400-bed MGM Super Speciality Hospital will be ready in about 18 months. It will be headed by Dr Prashanth Kumar, the strategy analyst for MGMCRI. The entry of this Puducherry-based group, is bound to trigger competition among major players, an industry veteran, who did not wish to be identified, told DTNext. The individual is involved in a series of key healthcare projects.

The upcoming MGM Super Speciality Hospital will be located on the bustling Nelson Manickam-Arumbakkam stretch. Healthcare providers like Sundaram Medical Foundation, SIMS and Billroth already have an established presence here. Even Apollo has set foot into the north-eastern suburb of Vanagaram with a new facility, which highlights how lucrative such regions have turned. 

Increasingly, the healthcare sector is seeing doctors growing comfortable in the role of entrepreneurs. “It is better for healthcare practitioners to manage healthcare business as factors of responsibility and accountability are far-reaching,” says Dr S Manivannan, Joint MD of Kauvery Hospital. The specialist gave up practice few years back to plunge headlong into the healthcare venture, that he began as a 30-bed start-up in Tiruchirappalli, along with family and friends. Kauvery Hospital is looking at Rs 220-crore revenues and 1,000-bed operations in 2016-17. Recently, it went live with its brownfield project at Hosur, where it has a 125-bed facility after its acquisition of the two-year-old Ashok Hospital for around Rs 11 crore. 

Another big project to dot the metro skyline is a 400-bed hospital of Kovai Medical Center and Hospital on the Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) stretch of the IT corridor. The Coimbatore-based player will debut in the city, by using its existing land bank to set up its greenfield project. 

Two other greenfield projects that are on the cards include Rainbow Hospitals and Gem Hospital. While the former is a Hyderabad-based operator whose expansion footprints will mark its first facility in Chennai, the latter – Gem Hospital, from Coimbatore is ready to stride into the metro. Rainbow is coming up with a 200-bed paediatric speciality hospital at Tambaram. Gem will also operate out of OMR with a 200bed gastro healthcare speciality, multiple sources confirmed to DTNext. Meanwhile, it is also learnt that Madurai-based Meenakshi Mission and Hospital Research Centre (MMHRC) and Ganga Hospitals from Coimbatore are also inking their healthcare forays in the city. Dr S Gurushankar, Vice-Chairman, SR Trust, now manages the administration of the Trustrun MMHRC. 

“From a monolithic phase, competition drove more players to enter the healthcare arena. Now, tier II operators are ready for city forays. A huge demand-supply mismatch exists. Ironically, large hospitals have not been growing in line with the rise in population. Impetus and encouraging support from the government will enhance the healthcare industry in a much more comprehensive manner. TN will continue to be a top-notch healthcare destination as the quality of care is still unparalleled,” says UK Anathapadmanabhan, a senior healthcare professional.