No-frills deliverer
Vaatsalya Healthcare has a no-frills model that does not compromise on quality.
Low-cost airlines may not serve you a piping hot free meal, but because they charge less does not mean they compromise on safety. Similarly, Vaatsalya Healthcare's model of a no-frills hospital chain goes easy on add-ons like air-conditioners (at least in cooler places) and highend televisions. But founder Dr Ashwin Naik insists that no-frills does not involve any compromise in quality treatment.
Vaatsalya Healthcare's hospitals - each with 70 beds on an average - are spread across 10 locations in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Naik's no-frills thrust allows his hospitals to deliver a child at a cost of Rs 6,000 against around Rs 50,000 at top-end city hospitals.
Dr Naik plans to have 35 hospitals across 25 districts in three years and is in talks with private equity players to raise Rs 50 crore to fund this expansion.
Dr Naik says the model is already sustainable with 80 per cent of his 10 hospitals having broken even within a year and a half. Vaatsalya hopes to clock Rs35 crore in the year ending March 2011. Not a bad start for the good doctor who wants to make health care in small towns almost as accessible as pizzas are to city slickers.
 Dr Ashwin Naik Founder, Vaatsalya Healthcare Vision: To build a no-frills hospital network focused on Tier II and Tier III towns Challenge: To execute the model in locations that lack a medical eco-system |
Dr Naik plans to have 35 hospitals across 25 districts in three years and is in talks with private equity players to raise Rs 50 crore to fund this expansion.
Dr Naik says the model is already sustainable with 80 per cent of his 10 hospitals having broken even within a year and a half. Vaatsalya hopes to clock Rs35 crore in the year ending March 2011. Not a bad start for the good doctor who wants to make health care in small towns almost as accessible as pizzas are to city slickers.
