Aster DM Healthcare to Set Up over Rs 730 crore Hospital In Cayman Islands

New Delhi: Healthcare services provider Aster DM Healthcare on Tuesday said it will invest around USD 100 million (over Rs 730 crore) to set up a tertiary care hospital in Cayman Islands as part of its plans to set up a clinical excellence hub there.

The company has signed an agreement with the Government of Cayman Islands to set up a clinical excellence hub there to serve the Caribbean Region, North America, Canada, Latin and South America, Aster DM Healthcare said in a statement.

Also Read:Aster DM India, Gulf revenue falls by 35 percent amid COVID crisis

The pact will see the company initially develop around 150-bed tertiary and quaternary care hospital, that can be expanded in the future based on need, alongside an assisted living facility and healthcare university in the long-term, it added.

'The investment is in phases. In the first phase the investment will be around USD 100 million, which will be spent over a period of two years. Large part of it is into the land and building, and then on the equipment,' Aster DM Healthcare Founder Chairman and MD Azad Moopen told PTI.

The company is also looking at various ways to structure that, as it also wants to pursue the asset light model that it follows in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, he added.

'We have been working on this for the last one year, and we thought it is a good location beyond GCC countries and India. We have been looking at a place closer to the US and Europe, which is more of an advanced healthcare market. That is what took the company to Cayman Islands,' Moopen said.

Going forward, in the second phase we will go for providing assisted living facilities, and the third phase will focus on medical education. For all the phases the company is looking at an asset light model, he added.

'Apart from catering to the requirements of the local population for tertiary and quaternary care, Cayman Islands in the Caribbean has the potential for attracting patients from the USA, Canada and the Caribbean countries for holistic healthcare experience due to its proximity,' Moopen said.

With this project, the company wants to replicate its 'Medcity' concept which has proven to be highly successful in Kochi, Aster DM Healthcare said.

'With Aster's success story of serving advanced quality and affordable care in all the countries that we have a presence in, we believe that we have a unique positioning which would support the economic growth of Cayman Islands," Aster DM Healthcare Deputy MD Alisha Moopen said.

On the agreement, Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin said: 'Aster's willingness to invest several hundred millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands economy, in spite of the economic downturn caused by COVID-19, speaks volumes not only of their confidence in the Cayman Islands but also of the resiliency of our economy and our people'.

Aster Cayman Medcity, together with the other healthcare tourism providers on island, will further put the Cayman Islands in place to become a major regional healthcare hub, he added.

Aster DM Healthcare is one of the largest integrated healthcare service providers operating in multiple GCC states and is a leading healthcare player in India.

Also Read:Aster DM Healthcare net profit leaps over six fold to Rs 42 crore in Q2