Fortis Healthcare (India) is all set to launch a new ‘no frills' budget hospitals brand to cater to the need of the masses in tier 3 and 4 towns. “We want to go cheaper and deeper,” says Mr Shivinder Mohan Singh, Managing Director of Fortis Healthcare, speaking exclusively to Business Line .

Within the next two years, 25 of these hospitals will be up, said Mr Singh. “We already have 8-9 in the network that would get re-modelled to the new brand. They have been under trial for the last two years, to see if the model can work,” he said.

Through this new brand, the company hopes to reach 300 million more people.

Cheaper healthcare

According to Mr Singh, just by “shrink-wrapping” the existing Fortis model, the budget brand can hope to deliver cheaper healthcare. “There are a couple of items in a large Fortis facility that require high-end equipment and competency and capability. Now, if we remove the esoteric stuff and take only standard stuff – 90 per cent instead of the 100 per cent – it is possible,” he said.

There will be no super-specialists, the space will be reduced, which in turn will reduce the cost to build. “Thereby we reduce the capex,” he said.

“My hope is that it should have a lot more volumes and number of beds than the Fortis brand,” he said.

According to him, the concept of low cost hospitals will be relevant for markets like Africa, Vietnam and other South East Asian markets.

“We will take Indian healthcare systems to these markets,” said the Fortis MD.

Currently the 66-hospital Fortis Healthcare network has a bed capacity of 10,270. On Monday, it announced the launch of four new hospitals – which in a release, it said was part of the ‘10 in 10' commitment made by the company on its 10th Anniversary in end-June, to announce 10 new hospitals in 10 weeks.

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