Rs. 257 crores deal finalised for Shankar Hospital, Chennai

Hyderabad based Global Hospitals has acquired the 450-bed Shankar Hospital, Chennai after it bagged the bid for Rs.257 crores in the office of the Chief Justice of Madras High Court on Monday. Announcing this at a press conference here on Tuesday, K. Ravindranath, chairman, Global Hospitals, said the multi-speciality Chennai hospital located in 46 acres would be converted into a health city with 500 beds, 50 to be offered free of cost. A press release said Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam Charitable Trust could not operate the Chennai Hospital any longer as it had become heavily indebted. Also it could not establish a medical college. Therefore it was compelled to sell the property. The release quoted T. R. Rajagopalan, counsel for the trust, as having told the court that it was interested in keeping the hospital functional as a medical hub for the area and its neighbourhood. Hence it would accept the Global Hospitals' offer. Dr. Ravindranath said Rs.1,000 crore would be invested in five-ten years in the Chennai hospital to make it a centre of excellence in each speciality. It would have a neuro, transplant and elderly care centres, a hotel, service apartments besides floors for Indian and foreign patients. It would be fully operational by the year-end.