Fortis to inject Rs 300 mn into Escorts hospital

Critical care, emergency service and intensive care units at the Escorts hospital in New Delhi will soon get a Rs 300 million boost from its new owner Fortis Healthcare.

Critical care, emergency service and intensive care units at the Escorts hospital in New Delhi will soon get a Rs 300 million boost from its new owner Fortis Healthcare.

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"We will invest Rs 30 crore (Rs 300 million) in Escorts within two years," Fortis Healthcare managing director Shivinder Mohan Singh said Monday.

"Due to Dr Naresh Trehan's focus on his Medicity project, the hospital was not getting the desired focus for the last 20 months. With Naresh no more part of the hospital, we now want to take Escorts from a position of excellence to eminence," Singh told IANS on the sidelines of a function in New Delhi.

Renowned cardiologist Trehan left the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre (EHIRC) last week to join the Apollo Hospitals along with nearly 50 doctors and paramedics from EHIRC.

The 350-bedded EHIRC is a leading cardiology hospital in the world.

Singh said they would purchase new equipment and upgrade the ICUs in the EHIRC. "Critical care and ICUs are very important as we are a specialised hospital for heart patients from across the world. The laboratories would also be improved," he said, adding that the upgradation would be completed in a phased manner, as carrying out such work in a running hospital would have its limitations.

He said Fortis Healthcare would set up three cancer centres in the national capital region (NCR). "We are planning to set up three cancer centres in Shalimar Bagh, Pusa and Gurgaon. The work of the Shalimar Bagh centre would start within six weeks," said Singh, who is also the chief executive officer of EHIRC.

He, however, did not divulge the details of the investment in these three institutes.

Talking to reporters later about the exodus of doctors from the hospital, Singh said: "Around 50 staffers have resigned so far and half of them are doctors. Our hospital is full of experts and we don't need to recruit more doctors," he said.

The Escorts hospital, meanwhile, appointed senior cardiologist TS Kler as new executive director of cardiac science. Anil Karlekar has been appointed head of anaesthesia and critical care - the post held by Yatin Mehta before he left Escorts along with Trehan.