Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Tertiary heart care institute opened

CHENNAI: Malar Hospitals, which has been acquired by the Fortis Healthcare Network, on Wednesday launched a tertiary-level heart care institute that will adopt world-class standards in managing acute cardiac cases.

The Malar Heart Institute will be equipped to undertake a gamut of cardiac care services, ranging from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation. It will also house a state-of-the-art Critical Care Unit.

Launching the institute, Local Administration Minister M. K. Stalin called upon the private sector to complement the government’s efforts at improving healthcare for the masses.

Through ‘Varumun Kappom’ medical screening camps, the government was focussing on early detection of disorders, and, if possible, prevention.

Since assuming office, the DMK government had appointed 21,500 employees in the healthcare sector. Recently, it sanctioned the appointment of 750 doctors, he said. The State had increased budgetary allocation for healthcare from Rs.2,050 crore during 2007-08 to Rs.2,741 crore this year.

Health Minister M.R.K. Paneerselvam called for keeping down the cost of heart surgery.

Malar Hospitals chairman and Fortis CEO Shivinder Singh said it was proposed to set up tertiary care facilities across South India. Apart from upgrading the Malar Heart Institute as a national hub for advanced cardiac care, other specialities would be gradually scaled up.

Fortis has pumped in Rs.20 crore for an engineering revamp and facility upgrade of Malar’s 180-bedded cardiac division. A further Rs.30 crore will be infused in phases.

K.R. Balakrishnan, director of cardiac sciences, said not only was the incidence of heart disease significantly higher in south Asia, but cardiac disorders set in at a relatively younger age.

Later, addressing reporters, Mr. Shivinder Singh said Fortis planned to scale up from the 23 hospitals and 2,600 beds now to 40 hospitals and 6,000 beds as a national player in the health scene by 2012. The exercise would involve about half-a-billion dollars, and Fortis would fork out a major part of it as part of its strategy of buyouts, entering into management contracts and executing green field projects.

Fortis was keen on expanding its network of hospitals in South India and saw the acquisition of Malar Hospitals as the ideal gateway to the market here, Mr. Singh said.

The company had a presence in nine States. When the expansion projects go on stream, it would be a healthcare player in 15 States.

Mr. Singh said the guiding philosophy of the company’s foray into healthcare was to address issues of accessibility, affordability and reliability.

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