The COVID outbreak had resulted in people postponing their elective surgeries at hospitals. This, coupled with the steady flow of patients with chronic illnesses drying up due to virus contraction fears took a massive toll on the balance sheets of India’s top hospitals chains in the first three months of this fiscal.
Though, unlock measures led to occupancy rates picking up in the second quarter, it wasn’t enough to compensate hospitals for the heavy losses they suffered in the first quarter.
Both Apollo Hospitals and Max Healthcare ended the first half of FY21 in the red. So when do India’s hospital chains hope to be back in the black? When do they expect the occupancy rates to reach pre-COVID levels? More importantly, what is the growth outlook going ahead for India’s hospitals? To discuss this, Shereen Bhan spoke to Suneeta Reddy, MD of Apollo Hospitals, Abhay Soi, CMD of Max Healthcare and Dr. Bishnu Panigrahi, Group Head of Medical Services Operations at Fortis Healthcare.
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