Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare will grow in India through its “twin engines”, the Gleneagles and Fortis chain of hospitals, said Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Prem Kumar Nair.

Looking to grow organically, the group will add 2000 beds over five years at its existing hospital sites across the two networks, Nair told businessline.  

IHH had consolidated its position in Gleneagles about a year ago, and can now make concrete plans to grow. With Fortis, there is the “lingering (Court) issue” but that has not stopped it operationally from expanding. “Their own P&L carries them through on all the projects,” he said, including the recent stake-buy in diagnostic chain Agilus (erstwhile SRL labs).

IHH had bought 31.1 per cent stake in Fortis, in 2018. But its open offer to wrap up the transaction remains in a legal tangle, following an earlier transaction turning sour between former promoters of Fortis (erstwhile Ranbaxy’s Singh family) and Japanese drugmaker Daiichi Sankyo.

But Nair is optimistic. IHH has come a long way (from 2018), he said, adding that they would wait for the legal proceedings to play out. “India is one of the most attractive markets in our group …..We came at the right time .. Although there were some issues with both Gleneagles and Fortis – now Gleneagles is 100 per cent and Fortis is really expanding,” he said. Fortis and Gleneagles have  5,000 beds between them and the additional 2000 beds growth would be internally funded, said another IHH representative.

Key market

Pointing out that India will become one of its key markets, he said, “Today we are in 12 of 28 States and there’s still potential for growth, to expand into adjacent areas.” The healthcare company’s group chief said, they would look for strategic opportunities, including in the diagnostics segment, as its hospitals grow in new locations.

On managing healthcare operations across 10 countries, Nair said, “We are the most risk diversified healthcare group in the world.”  However, he added, it was incorrect to think that healthcare regulations were different across countries. “Eighty per cent of healthcare regulation are the same,” he said, in that they involved having registered doctors, qualified nurses, fire-safe buildings and so on. Only 20 per cent varies according to the country.  In fact, operating across countries is also supporting global procurement, he said, as the Group increasingly sourced consumables from India.  The IHH global team was in Mumbai to participate in their Global Quality Summit, being held in India for the first time.