Spice Global, a diversified group with interests in mobility, finance and entertainment, on Tuesday, announced its entry into healthcare with an investment of Rs.1,400 crore to set up a 1,000-bed hospital here by 2016.
“We have drawn up plans to invest over Rs.1,400 crore on the entire project by 2016. We have already committed Rs.400 crore for the first phase of the project, which will have 230 beds by June this year, and will be named Saket City Hospital,’’ Spice Global founder and Chairman B. K. Modi told journalists at a briefing here. The company plans to further expand its chain to cities in Punjab and Mumbai where it already has land for such projects.
The hospital, which was inaugurated on Tuesday, would be expanded to 1,000 beds by the middle of 2016, Mr. Modi said. “Healthcare would be our key focus in 2013,” Mr. Modi said.
The healthcare sector, now estimated at Rs.3.75 lakh crore, is likely to double in volume over the next five years. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), India’s healthcare system would require a large percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) spending if it aspires to become an economic superpower. The country invests only one per cent of GDP in primary healthcare centres and has an average of 0.6 doctors per 1,000 people against the global average of 1.23. Nearly 75 per cent of healthcare investments in recent years have come from the private sector.
