New Delhi: Healthcare major Apollo Hospitals on Wednesday said it will add 1,000 beds by the end of next fiscal at an investment of around Rs 720 crore.
“We will be adding 1,000 beds by the end of the financial year 2012-2013. It is going to cost us around Rs 720 crore,” Apollo Hospitals chairman Prathap C. Reddy told reporters here.
“Earlier, we thought the cost for this would be Rs 600 crore. The revised cost is due to increased land cost, rising cost of technology and lack of incentives for the healthcare industry,” he added.
He was speaking on the sidelines of a function held to highlight the success of the solid organ transplant programme of the healthcare provider.
On being asked how the company planned to garner finances for the expansion, Reddy said it had already raised the amount by share sale to qualified institutional buyers and through debt and internal accruals.
At present, Apollo Hospitals has a capacity of over 8,500 beds across 54 hospitals within and outside India.
The group said it would like to add more beds per year but is unable to do so as there is an acute shortage of doctors and healthcare professionals in the country.
“To meet this challenge, Apollo hospitals will be setting up three medical colleges. The first college will open by this year or by next year. The next one will come up after two years,” Reddy said.
On the group’s move to hive off its retail pharmacy business into a separate entity and listing it he said, “There are no immediate plans for listing the pharmacy business. We will do it when the time is ripe.”
The Chennai-headquartered healthcare chain is already running 11 nursing and hospital management colleges. It has 1,300 pharmacies and over 100 diagnostic clinics across the country.
He also sought stimulus from the government for the healthcare sector for its growth and said there was an urgent need to give the sector infrastructure status.
Shares of Apollo Hospitals on Wednesday closed at Rs 624 on BSE, up 0.88% from its previous close.