Healthcare business getting lucrative given the kind of cost advantage the country is having, FMCG major Dabur India has made healthcare its focus for the next decade and joined hands with UK based ‘Healthcare at home’(HAH).
“For the next decade our focus would be healthcare. We have JV with Healthcare at Home, Vocational Training Institute Berkeley Health edu, Diagnostic Business with Oncquest. This sector is very important to us and we will be investing aggressively in this sector,” Dabur International Director Gaurav Burman told The Pioneer.
The promoter of Dabur India Burmans are also investing Rs 200 crore over a period of next four years and company will hold 65 per cent stake in the Joint venture.
The company, which started operations in Delhi/NCR region about six months ago, is aiming to have a pan-India presence in the next two years.
“We are starting operations in Chandigarh next month. It will cater to other markets like Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. It will be followed by other cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad,”said Burman.
Giving details about the investment over the next five years, Burman said the majority of the capital will go into establishment of IT infrastructure, hiring, training and marketing.
The JV works with private hospitals and doctors to offer critical healthcare services in oncology, pulmonology, post operative care and critical care. It also aims to enter other services such as maternity and aged care.
When asked about the hospitals they have tied up with, Dr Gareth Jones, Chairman, Healthcare Care at home said: “We have tied up with Fortis escorts and Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute in India.”
We also in talks in with many pharmaceuticals company in India he replied when asked about any plans to signed JV with other than Dabur.
Jones said that “the company will be also interested in working with the public hospitals in the future. “We are introducing affordable and high quality at home healthcare services in the country. We spent the last one year studying the Indian market. We believe India is a challenging market but has huge potential.”
‘Healthcare at Home’ set up in 1992, has turnover in excess of 1 billion pounds. It has been involved in developing and providing patient-centric homecare services in the UK, Europe and Australia.