Mulls JV with Sutter Health.
Narayana Hrudayalaya, the Bangalore-based globally renowned cardiac hospital chain, is set for a Rs 1,000 crore Health City project in Mexico.
The Rs 300 crore hospital chain owned by eminent cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty is in advanced talks with US-based Sutter Health for a joint venture to set up this presence in Mexico.
Sutter Health is a multi-billion dollar North California headquartered not-for-profit healthcare organisation with a network of community-based healthcare providers in more than 100 Northern California communities.
This decision by Narayana Hrudayalaya to set up base in Mexico comes close on the heels of its planned expansion across some major 10 cities and towns of India to develop 3,000 - 5,000 bed Health City project catering to pediatrics, cardiac, cancer, orthopedics, neurology, eye care, among others.
According to source-based information from Narayana Hrudayalaya, this joint venture will be looking at setting up its first project either in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico or at Guadalajara, the second largest city in Mexico.
Sources further indicate that Mexico’s health department officials are expected to visit Narayana Hrudayalaya within the next ten days to have a first hand look at the Health City project in Bangalore.
While Narayana Hrudayalaya Finance Head offered not to comment on the joint venture, a spokesperson from Sutter Health told Business Standard said that they will not respond about possible business relationships unless, “we have something formal or substantive to announce. In this case, we don’t have anything to report.”
Sources in Narayana Hrudayalaya further add that even as this joint venture is being firmed up, there is immense interest from private equity players to fund this expansion in Mexico.
This interest from PE players comes hardly a few months after Narayana Hrudayalaya raised Rs 400 crore from AIG and J P Morgan to expand the Health City project.
Narayana Hrudayalaya currently owns three hospitals across Bangalore and Kolkata with a total bed capacity of 2,500. In addition to this, Health Cities are being planned at Kolkata, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Raipur, Jamshedpur, Bhopal and Delhi.
Dr Devi Shetty through his initiatives has been bringing down the cost of cardiac surgeries through what he fondly calls the ‘ Wal-martisation of healthcare,’ by performing close to 30 open heart surgeries and almost equal number of catheterization procedures a day, almost eight times the average at other Indian hospitals.
