Healthcare service provider Aster DM Healthcare is looking at investing ₹1,000 crore by 2021 to expand its facilities across the country.
The company has proposed to add 1,500 beds from the existing 4,300 in the next two years.
New hospitals
The new 300-bed hospital in Kannur and the 240-bed facility in Bengaluru are ready for inauguration. Two more hospitals, in Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai, are in the pipeline, said Azad Moopen, Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a press meet on awarding MBBS degree to the first batch of students from DM Wayanad Institute of Medical Sciences to be held on April 6. DM WIMS has received permanent recognition of the Medical Council of India and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Started in 2013, DM WIMS Medical College has a bed capacity of 700 plus beds and a daily patient visit of more than 1,000. Apart from the Medical College, it has also started Nursing and Pharmacy Colleges.
“The aim is to place DM WIMS to be one among the top 10 private medical colleges in the country by 2025”, he said.
Medical tourists
Moopen said medical value traveller business to Aster DM Healthcare Kochi has received an encouraging response, registering a 15 per cent growth over the previous year. African countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya as well as Bangladesh are the newly added destination for medical value traveller business, as Kochi offers good potential for this business vertical due to uninterrupted flight connectivity.
According to him, the employment opportunities in the healthcare sector is always on the higher side, as addition of each bed will require the service of an average 5-6 people.