Wockhardt plans another cardiac centre

BANGALORE: The city will have another heart hospital by next year, making it one of the most sought after destinations for heart care in the country. The Wockhardt group recently announced that it will set up a new hospital in the city devoted to cardiac care in association with the Harvard Medical International (HMI), a unit of the world renowned Harvard Medical School.This announcement comes close on the heels of the inauguration of the 333-bed Sri Sathya Institute of Higher Medical Sciences and the proposed move of well-known cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Prasad Shetty to the 650-bed Narayana Hrudayalaya, which is coming up on Hosur Road. Add to these the existing facilities at other hospitals such as Manipal, St John's, Mallya and M.S. Ramaiah. According to general manager of Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute Vishal Bali, "The new hospital should be commissioned by next year and will have a bed strength of 225. This will be a little more than double of our present 100 beds.'' The hospital is expected to come up in the vicinity of the Indiranagar - Koramangala stretch of the Intermediate Ring Road. Says Bali, ``Wockhardt has plans to invest Rs 200 crore over the next 4-5 years. About Rs 75 crore is expected to be spent on the Bangalore project.'' The new project, while providing the routine services in cardio-thoracic surgery and cardiology, will focus on preventive cardiology, largely because of its partnership with HMI. ``Massachusetts General has a huge department of preventive cardiology. Unlike the common perception, this is not in contradiction to the interests of a private hospital but only complementary in nature,'' says Bali. Two other mega projects are being taken up by the Wockhardt group in Mumbai. The first will be the setting up of a new heart hospital at Bhandup while another will involve a partnership with the Maharashtra state government to run the GT Super Speciality Hospital which will offer at least three specialities. ``The HMI tie-up will be beneficial to the group in introducing the latest systems of hospital management not only in our existing facilities in Bangalore and Calcutta but also in our forthcoming projects,'' says Bali. In fact, the current Wockhardt Hospital premises on Cunningham Road will be the base for the for introducing and testing such systems. According to Bali, ``HMI has such partnerships with 17 of the top hospitals in the US including Massachusetts General, Beth Israel and Brighams and Women. The alliance will help us in training nurses to play a bigger clinical management role, improve executive training and come in handy in our dealings with health insurance companies which will become the biggest driver of the health industry in India in the next few years.''