Fortis lines up Rs 1,300 crore capex to expand existing hospitals

Fortis Healthcare is investing up to Rs 1,300 crore in expanding capacities at existing hospitals over the next few years, according to a senior company executive.The healthcare provider aims to add around 2,200 beds over the next few years.

"So, some of the capex has already been incurred in that (addition of bed capacity). "Additional capex will be somewhere around Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,300 crore, which includes equipment also, everything put together," Fortis Healthcare CFO Vivek Goyal said in an analyst call.

He noted that the healthcare provider is looking to add bed capacity at various existing facilities, including hospitals in Faridabad and Anandpur Sahib."At Faridabad, there is space available, and we have planned to further expand..In regard to Anandpur, we have acquired a company with a different land parcel. 

So, we want to operationalise that also. Post expansion of these 100 beds, we will be adding maybe another 50 beds in the next financial year in that unit," Goyal said.At Shalimar Bagh, Fortis is building another tower in the adjacent plot and that should give us another 200-plus beds, he said.

"This is already included in our overall plan of expansion of 2,200 beds," Goyal said. 

The healthcare provider expects to commence its Manesar facility by the second quarter of this financial year."We will be opening initially 100 beds, and we will see how the ramp-up goes on," Goyal said.Fortis is adding 100 beds at a facility in Kolkata for which it has received all the approvals.

Besides, the healthcare provider is expecting the OC (occupancy certificate) to come for the Bengaluru facility (BG Road) at the end of the second quarter of this fiscal, he added.Fortis Healthcare currently has over 4,500 operational beds across 28 hospitals in the country.