After initial hit, health-care units likely to recover: CRISIL SME Tracker

With the working capital cycle stretched, financially weaker hospitals may have to resort to short-term loans to stay afloat.

Logically, a pandemic should set off a causal sequence of increased patient loads and higher revenues for hospitals. In reality, not so. When the lockdown was first imposed, footfall at private hospitals started to plunge, with Covid-19 cases mostly treated at government facilities. Elective procedures were deferred and many small, doctor-run facilities were forced shut. The impact reverberated across the sector in the first quarter of this fiscal.
 
But from May-end, when private facilities were roped in to handle the burgeoning crisis, occupancies improved, but slowly. However, the effect of high revenue loss and hefty operating leverage, in addition