For docs, all roads lead to Gurgaon

After factories, call centres, and shopping malls, it is now the turn of healthcare providers to discover Gurgaon, New Delhi's swank satellite town.

It is on course to having 18 new hospitals equipped with roughly 5,000 beds by 2010, at a cost of almost Rs 3,000 crore.

Those planning to put their money in Gurgaon include healthcare companies Fortis Healthcare and Apollo Hospitals, surgeon-turned-entrepreneur Naresh Trehan, Artemis of Apollo Tyres, Healers Hospital, Rockland, shoe-maker Action Group, and dairy product company Paras.

This fits in with a recent CII-McKinsey study which had said that the Indian healthcare market would expand from $18.7 billion to $45 billion in six years.

Gurgaon has come in sharp focus even as, according to unconfirmed estimates, two dozen hospital projects in Delhi are stuck on the starting block for 15-17 years despite having land allotments.

Gurgaon has ample land, an ever-increasing working class, and a huge catchment area comprising Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir.

"One has to view the entire north Indian hinterland as the market," said Fortis Managing Director Shivinder M Singh.

Then there is the lure of medical tourism "" projected to grow from $333 million to $2 billion by 2012 "" which can be tapped, thanks to the international air connectivity on Gurgaon's border with Delhi.

"The bigger healthcare players are targeting the global patient base," said Astron Hospital Managing Director YP Bhatia.

Singh, putting his money where his mouth is, has planned a Rs 1,000-crore medical complex with a multi-superspeciality hospital of 350-500 beds, and centres of excellence for oncology, paediatrics, neurology etc by 2008.

Apollo Hospitals is in talks with real estate developer DLF Universal for setting up a 100-bed hospital.

Artemis Health Sciences will mark the debut of Onkar S Kanwar-controlled Apollo Tyres, which is investing Rs 500 crore in a 500-bed multi-speciality hospital.

Trehan's baby is a Rs 1,000-crore complex, to be ready by August 2007, replete with 18-20 super-specialities, a nursing school, and a medical institute.

However, some warn that the growth projections may not work out for Gurgaon. Singh of Fortis, for one, foresees ample churn and shake-out.