Wockhardt Hospitals is planning to set up a chain of six major hospitals in different parts of the country in the next two years, according to informed sources. The first of these, the Wockhardt Heart Hospital in Mumbai, was commissioned on August 1, 2002. At a news conference to announce this, the Wockhardt Hospitals chairman, Habil Khorakiwala, said the 220-bed hospital in Mumbai had entailed an investment of more than Rs. 100 crore. But he refused to specify the total investment planned for the complete chain.
Khorakiwala also said the group's latest venture, which is located in Mulund, a suburb in the northeastern segment of the metropolis, had come up within a time span of just 15 months. He described it as a reflection of the 'efficiency of his team' and gave the impression that the 15-month time schedule was a standard for his group.
However, not all the institutions are being built from scratch. In Mumbai, the second project, supposed to be completed in June 2003, is basically an expansion of the G T Hospital, which belongs to the state-government run J J Group of Hospitals. Hence, for this project, Wockhardt has set up a joint venture with the State Government.
The scheme for the third project in Mumbai, namely the Wockhardt Women's Hospital in Juhu, is also linked with the S K Arogya Nidhi Hospital, which has been in existence for a considerable time. In its new avatar, the hospital will be a massive 250-bed complex with 10 operating rooms designed according to US standards, and specialized facilities for mammography, a separate department of cosmetology and a well developed section for eye disorders.
Similarly, the group is getting ready to set up a 175-bed heart institute in Baroda with a fully equipped Intensive Coronary Care Unit (ICCU), and a similar one, also of 175 beds in Indore. Both are scheduled for commissioning in June 2004.
Thus by the time these plans are completed, the Wockhardt group would have added almost 1,000 beds to its present capacity, making it the second largest chain of private hospitals in the country - next only to the Apollo Group.