Wockhardt Hospitals Group has chalked out plans to invest Rs 250 crore to set up super speciality facilities in New Delhi and Kolkata. Wockhardt has already acquired land in West Delhi to start a 275 bed hospital. At Kolkata it will set up a 250-bed unit. Civil works for both the projects will commence by mid 2007 and is likely to be ready in another 12-14 months.

Now Wockhardt is gearing up to commission its state-of-the-art second hospital in Bangalore, on the Bannerghatta Road. The multi-specialty 400-bed facility with cardiac care, brain and spine, bone and joint and women's health, is being set up with an investment of Rs. 140 crore. The facility will have an intensive care unit with 75 beds. The hospital is envisaged as a National Referral Centre with a neonatal ICU of 15-bed for paediatric cardiology. With the new hospital, Wockhardt will offer 520-beds for the patients. It will have the latest equipment from medical technology majors like Medtronic, GE Healthcare, Philips and Siemens, Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals Group told Pharmabiz.

He said Wockhardt is a tertiary super speciality healthcare provider with the most modern hospitals, with most modern treatment options. It has JCI (Joint Commission International) accreditation, together with the 'preferred provider' alliance status with Harvard Medical School which contributes to its clinical programmes, medical audits, improved patient care inputs and infrastructure requirements. In 2005 alone the group has managed to attract 1.40 lakh foreign patients who have opted for Wockhardt not just because of cost saving factors but primarily because of being a global quality accredited healthcare provider, averred Bali.

"We are recognised as global bench mark in cardiac care and experience in innovative surgical options has led international medical teams to hop across to our facility in Bangalore to undertake training in cardiac surgery. We have completed three sessions with 12 Chinese surgeons and the fourth session is expected to commence within two months. A four-member team of clinicians from Uzbekistan have undergone training in 3-D ultra sonography and echocardiogram. US surgeons have come in for conscious off-pump coronary artery operation know-how. There are 30 surgical teams within the Wockhardt Group headed by Dr. Vivek Jawali working on surgical techniques," informed Bali.

The healthcare scene in the country is undergoing a phenomenal change and is registering a growth rate of 15 per cent, which is more than double of the economy growth. In the wake of such massive expansions in the sector, the six facilities of Wockhardt at Mumbai ((Mulund and Versova, South Mumbai), Hyderabad, Nagpur, Kolkata and Bangalore offer high end tertiary care management of complicated and critical diseases and disorders, he added.