KEF Holdings has chalked out plans to enter into healthcare sector and has slated an investment of Rs. 500 crore to set up a 500-bed tertiary hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala. The initiative is through its vertical KEF Health, which is constructing the Premium Medical Healthcare Providers referred to as the PMHP Hospital that is scheduled to be commissioned by first quarter of 2016.
The modular designed hospital model typically reduces project build time by 50 per cent and shrinks project costs by 30 per cent besides minimising wastage and maximising quality control.
Early this month, KEF Holdings, an offsite construction technology company, announced its India operations launch with an investment commitment of over Rs. 1,500 crore in areas of infrastructure, healthcare and education to be made over the next five years. The company said the investments will be channeled through its two business verticals: KEF Infra and KEF Health. The Rs. 500 crore commitment for the PMHP Hospital is an outcome of this move.
The PMHP project is a joint venture with the PeeKay Group, Kerala and a leading cardiologist, Dr. Ali Faizal. In addition, KEF Health working with a team of doctors and technology experts from Cleveland Clinic, USA, who would serve on its Health Board of Directors, to ensure affordable care is provided at the hospital.
The hospital will also benefit from KEF’s collaboration with Australian firm Total Alliance Health Partners International (TAHPI).
The country’s hospital-bed-to-population ratio is an abysmal 9:10,000, compared to the global average of 30:10,000. KEF Health intends to replicate the modular designed hospital model to healthcare operators across the country to offer high-quality medical care.
The first phase of the PMHP Hospital will be ready by April 2015 and second phase by Q1 of 2016. In modular construction, structural components like columns, beams, hollow core slabs, wall panels, staircases, windows, doors, bathroom units and façades are manufactured offsite in controlled settings, rather than on-site, said Faizal E. Kottikollon, Founder-Chairman, Singapore-based KEF Holdings, who was here in Bengaluru.
“In line with the Union government’s ‘Make in India’ vision, we would focus on infrastructure, education and healthcare. KEF will change infrastructure development in the country by bringing in best practices, technologies and processes to ensure high quality is provided with reduction in time and cost”, he added.
The advanced hospital in Kozhikode will specialize in cardiology, orthopedics and neurosciences. In the case of PMHP Hospital, off site construction allows the project to be completed in 16 months, or half the time that traditional construction methods would take. Components for the PMHP hospital are being robotically manufactured at the 42-acre KEF Industrial Park in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, the only integrated facility for off-site manufacturing for the construction sector in India.