MUMBAI: Leading corporate hospital chain Fortis Healthcare is looking at garnering 10 percent of its revenues from the lucrative medical tourism over the next three years, a top official said. "I would expect that it will be in higher single digits or 10 percent," Fortis Chief Executive, domestic operations, Aditya Vij told PTI here when asked about the company's plans for medical tourism.
Vij said that medical tourism at present constitutes 7 percent of the revenues of the billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh-promoted company.
He stressed that the share of medical tourism will increase even as it targets to continue to grow at 30 percent annually during the next three years.
Medical tourism typically denotes serving overseas patients looking for cheaper treatment options or better infrastructure. Factors like the falling rupee observed recently are bound to make the business more profitable.
Vij said apart from the developed countries, Fortis will be looking at getting patients from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.
However, he added that though the revenue share from medical tourism will go up, the company's focus will be the domestic market.
The company, which recently announced its plans to open hospitals in tier II and III cities, is targeting to commission the first of the low-cost hospitals in early next year and will be finishing with its planned rollout in 25 cities in the next three years, he said.
"The idea is to take medical care to where people are. We want to bring healthcare to more and more people who today have to commute long distances to get decent medical care. We already have identified a few locations," he said.
At present, Fortis has 51 operational hospitals spread across the country while 15 more are under construction. Once the construction is complete, its capacity will go up to 10,600 beds.
Vij said the company is always scouting for acquisitions and will continue to look at such options for growth.
The company's vision is to adopt an asset-light approach and Fortis will be looking at partnerships with those having real estate, Vij said.
It will tie-up with the real estate owner, build a hospital and run it, he explained, stating that such a model will be especially helpful in its tier-II and tier-III foray.