Thursday, January 10, 2013

Private equity pours money into India's primary healthcare

According to recent trends Private equity funds are investing more and more in India's primary healthcare, betting the sick and ailing will stop seeing family doctors in often cramped and dingy quarters and check into modern chains sprouting up all across the country.

The opportunity is vast as India's unorganized primary healthcare system is worth $30 billion and is growing at least 25 percent a year but the challenge will be convincing the sick to give up their trusted family doctors.

While fees at modern clinics range from 150 to 600 rupees for treatment of routine illness, sole general practitioners charge patients anything between 50 and 300 rupees per visit.

However, organized healthcare providers including Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd and Fortis Healthcare Ltd are betting that growing numbers of patients will be willing to pay two or three times more for better-equipped clinics - all under a model that can be replicated fast and offers investors the potential for quick returns.

According to Santanu Chattopadhyay, CEO of NationWide Primary Healthcare Services,"The family doctor concept is slowly phasing out as migrants in cities look out for a brand rather than visiting a general physician next door".

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