India sees demand for hospitals

CASH RICH Indian hospital groups such as recently listed Narayana Hrudayalaya are setting up operations in Africa to tap a growing stream of middle-class patients from the continent seeking quality health-care. With financing from Abraaj Group’s Africa Health Fund and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Mumbai-listed group is partnering with Kenyan investors and will break ground on a 130-bed specialist cardiac hospital in the capital, Nairobi, in January. Another group of investors is joining forces with Gurgaon, India-based Medanta Hospital to set up a 200-bed facility in the nation. “A lot of these companies have figured out that they are getting a significant number of patients from Africa,” said Biju Mohandas, who heads the IFC’s health-investment team in Nairobi. “They want to be among the first to get a toehold in Africa and ride the growth wave, even as they continue to expand back in India.” Sub-Saharan Africa’s private health-care industry is estimated to be worth about $21 billion (R295bn), according to the IFC. Last year, east Africans spent about $1bn seeking medical attention in India, according to Khama Rogo, head of the World Bank’s Health in Africa Initiative. About 30 000 Nigerians went there for treatment.The IFC, which has invested $20 million in the $105m Africa Health Fund, estimates the continent requires $30bn of investment to meet growing demand. – Bloomberg