New Delhi: Hospital chain, Fortis Healthcare on Monday announced a five-year outsourcing deal estimated to be over $15 million with IT firm HCL Infosystems for implementing software solutions at all its facilities.

“The deal is part of a five-year agreement under which HCL will undertake complete outsourcing of IT systems and processes of Fortis Healthcare Ltd,” said Fortis Healthcare vice-president, corporate affair G.S. Bedi.

As per the deal, IT platform for all the hospitals in Fortis network will be standardized through the IT system installed by HCL within a period of twelve months and the first hospital will go live by the end of February 2010.

Asked about the size of the deal, Bedi said, the total size of the deal would be more than $15 million and actual cost depends upon the number of facilities group acquires.

As part of the deal, HCL would install softwares solutions at all Fortis hospitals and would also impart training to its employee, he said.

This deal makes Fortis the first healthcare delivery company in India to undertake complete strategic outsourcing for IT applications and infrastructure management, Fortis said.

“This tie up will create newer benchmarks in the quality of healthcare delivery and patient care and take it to the next level,” Fortis Healthcare managing director Shivinder Mohan Singh said.