Paras Hospitals All Set To Expand Maternity Chains In North India

The popularity of out-of-the-hospital, single specialty healthcare centres over the past few years is increasingly throwing up significant opportunities for not only emerging healthcare businesses but also existing multi specialty hospitals to foray into the sector.

Gurgaon-based Paras Hospitals is increasingly adopting measures to hive off its mother and childcare services with the launch of exclusive maternity chains under brand Paras Bliss. It plans to launch a chain of maternity centers in a bid to increase its footprint across North India. Earlier this year, it opened a maternity centre in Panchkula and Delhi (East of Kailash) and plans to open centres in Noida and other parts of north India by the end of the year.

“Childbirth is not technically an ailment. So, why subject the patient to sit in a multi specialty hospital along with other patients who come for treatment for major ailments?” said Dr Dharminder Nagar, Managing Director at Paras Healthcare. “Keeping this in mind, we wanted to create a joyful environment for expecting mothers,” he adds.

Earlier prominent chains such as Fortis healthcare and Apollo Hospital have set foot in the single specialty category and have launched exclusive maternity chains that currently operate under brands Fortis La Femme and Apollo Cradle, respectively. As per sources, even Max Healthcare is looking to soon enter the segment and is currently in scouting for acquisition opportunities that will give it an instant entrance into the sector. However, this could not independently verified.

With the rise of branded private hospitals across the country, the ‘healthcare consumer’ today can no more be treated as a patient alone. In the past few years, there has been a major shift in people’s attitude towards doctors and hospitals and single speciality scores there as well as the quality of doctors and attention that patients get in these chains are on par with multi specialty hospitals. Under single speciality, one gets everything under one roof with multiple doctors focussing on one area of healthcare. Also, single specialty offers end-to-end solutions, even if it means those required for post operative care – this is increasingly becoming popular with people.

Other categories where single specialty has gained immense popularity are eye care, dental care, among others. In fact, with the success of model of single specialty, other categories like oncology and cancer are also coming in. Single speciality hospitals or day care centres as they are typically known focus on specialty care services in any one area of healthcare.

Given the size of healthcare sector in India, there is immense opportunity and scope for both single and multi specialty hospitals. India's healthcare sector is expected to be approximately $280 billion in size by 2020 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 16 per cent. There are still some gaps in the healthcare industry.