Max Health eyes national footprint

Max Healthcare, an emerging hospital chain major based in Delhi, is planning to expand its presence beyond the National Capital Region through acquisitions and long-term management contracts in various parts of the country.

In this regard, the company plans to set up a 100-bedded secondary healthcare facility in Dehradun by 2008. The company which has seven hospitals in Delhi is to have four more medical facilities under its brand within next two years, Mukesh Shivdsani, executive director, Max Healthcare, said.

According to Shivdsani, Max is looking at becoming a national healthcare provider with hospitals in north, west and eastern regions.

"We are in advanced stages of negotiations with hospital managements and entrepreneurs in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat and Patna for setting up Max facilities there. The plans include acquiring new facilities, setting up greenfield projects and also long-term management of existing facilities," he added.

The company, which marked 90 per cent growth in its revenue for the nine months ended December 2006 at Rs 176 crore on the year-on-year basis, is also launching a massive information technology initiative to centralise its operations.

"We are working on tie-ups and collaborations with world renowned medical schools. The tie-up would enable us to have foreign medical experts as well as patients utilising our facilities", Pervez Ahmed, executive director, medical operations, Max Healthcare said.

"Our clinical programme leaders would soon be able to see the ICU monitor displays at their laptops & residential computer systems. Despite the availability of round the clock surgeonritical care specialty Doctors at the hospitals, this technology would ensure at no point in time our clinical leaders are out of touch or uninformed", Ahmed added.