Aster DM Healthcare To Invest Rs 650 Crore In New Hospitals

Dr Azad Moopen-promoted Aster DM Healthcare is planning to invest over Rs 650 crore in the next two years to take its total hospital bed capacity to 6000 from the current 4800 beds. Aster, with 21 hospitals in India and the Middle East, recently added a new hospital at Angol in Andhra Pradesh. A 250-bedded hospital will be operational at Kannur in Kerala next month and another 230-plus-bedded hospital will start in Bangalore by April. Aster is planning a 500-bedded tertiary care hospital in Chennai, which will be commissioned within the next two-and a-half-years. Four more new hospitals will come up in Dubai, Sharjah, and Oman.

Their idea is to focus only on tertiary care in cities and the hospital chain is exploring new facilities in Mumbai, Pune, and in Thiruvananthapuram, where they have purchased land. Currently the focus is to restrict expansion only to South and West India. Overall,  Rs 5500 crore has been invested over the years and of this, 40 percent of the investment has been in India. Aster owns over 100 clinics and a pharmacy chain in the Middle East, both with revenues of Rs 2000 crore each year. Half of its consolidated revenues are from the operation of hospitals. Aster has started some clinics on a pilot basis in Bangalore, and depending on its success, it will plan to add more clinics on a commercial scale.