Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has acquired a 16 per cent stake in Fortis Healthcare Ltd, a company promoted by Malvinder and Shivinder Singh, the sons of late Parvinder Singh at a cost of Rs 6.14 crore. The balance shareholding remains with the two brothers. However, neither of the two brothers is on the board of the company. While Malvinder works for Ranbaxy, Shivinder is involved with Fortis.

Fortis is setting up a big super-specialty Fortis Heart Institute at Mohali near Chandigarh at a cost of Rs 155 crore. The hospital will be connected to six multi-speciality secondary care hospitals which will focus on orthopaedics, neurology, oncology and gastro intestinal problems located at Jullundhur, Ambala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Simla and Jammu.

The company is looking at either putting up these hospitals on its own or going through the joint venture route with some local players.

According to Fortis, the six hospitals will be linked with the hub at Mohali, which will also have an electronic patient record.

Fortis is also proposed to try and replicate it in other parts of the country. Fortis had recently tied up with Massachusetts General Hospital for transfer of clinical protocols and procedures related to cardiac, quality assurance, training of hospital personnel, and criteria for accreditation in accordance with US hospital standards. The two hospitals will also refer patients to each other. Patients who cannot afford to go to the US for operations, especially from the Asian region, would be referred to the Fortis Heart Institute at Mohali.