By IANS
Hyderabad : The Apollo Group of Hospitals, one of the leading private healthcare providers in Asia, and BAI Medical Centre Ltd, a subsidiary of British American Investment Co (Mtius) Ltd, Thursday announced their plans to set up a hospital in Mauritius.
British American Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, (BAHEL), a joint venture (JV) of the two groups, will set up and manage the state-of-the-art tertiary care hospital, which will have an investment of $70 million (Rs.2.79 billion).
Announcing the JV, Prathap C. Reddy, chairman of Apollo Hospitals, told a news conference here that this world-class facility was being set up with debt equity ratio of 1.25:1.
Apollo is investing 26 percent in the equity in the JV. The Mauritius-based BAI Medical Centre will hold the rest.
The construction of the facility, named Apollo Bramwell Hospital, Mauritius, is in progress and the project is expected to be operational by December 2008.
Apart from investing in the JV, Apollo will provide technical consultancy services during the project implementation stage. Once the project is completed Apollo will be responsible for the operation of the facility.
“Apollo Bramwell Hospital will be a global landmark for quality healthcare. We are extremely happy to be associated with British American Investment Co (Mtius) in this initiative and we are confident that this will grow into a larger relationship between the two groups,” said Reddy.
It will be a one-stop facility for advanced healthcare with infrastructure and personnel across 50 specialties and super-specialties.
“By partnering with Apollo, we aim to transform our region into a global healthcare hub. This hospital will offer services of standards that the region has never seen before and we believe that this is only the beginning of a journey that will transform healthcare delivery in the region,” said Dawood Rawat, chairman of British American Investment Co.
Mauritius with a population of over 1.25 million is a major tourist destination with over a million tourists visiting the island nation every year. Apart from serving the tertiary healthcare needs of the local population, this joint venture will cater to the growing medical tourist population.
“We are currently working on a number of international projects. The projects in Dhaka, Colombo and Muscat are already operational and have developed as centres of excellence in their regions. Projects in Yemen, Mongolia, Nigeria, Netherlands Antilles and Riyadh are in various stages of completion,” said Reddy.
“The Mauritius project is the first project where Apollo will be holding the equity,” K. Ravichandran, senior general manager, projects, Apollo Group, told IANS.
He said the other international projects were the management contracts. The facility in Yemen is likely to be ready in three months while the one in Mangolia will also be completed this year. “The remaining projects will take time,” he said.
Indo-Asian News Service