Shakat Singh: building a global healthcare destination

It's a project that has been 10 years in the making and is some two years away from completion. Many details are still shrouded in secrecy. Yet its sheer scale will take your breath away. In a sprawling 600-acre area in the hills around Raisina village on the Sohna-Gurgaon Highway, the Sir Edward Dunlop International Alternative Healthcare and Recreational Facilities is quietly taking shape. This 250-bed superspecialty hospital has the involvement of Australian, Swiss and French firms and promises to be an ultra modern diagnostic and treatment centre with a range of alternative medicine, sports and recreational facilities. There's even golf and polo! But only 50 acres of the campus will house buildings - the rest will be intact as nature designed it.

Says Shakat Singh, managing director, Sir Edward Dunlop Hospitals (SEDH) India: "The idea germinated in 1985 when Apollo was concentrated in the south and there was no Escorts. In fact, there were no healthcare centres to cater to expatriates coming to India." Singh was a member of the Economic Planning Advisory Council chaired by the Australian prime minister to set up world-class facilities in India. A consortium of leading international players in healthcare got together and approached Sir Edward Dunlop, one of Australia's best known surgeons. With his blessings, the project took off and SEDH India was set up with FIPB approval.

Singh says SEDH is four months away from financial closure and the initial two phases will cost about $100 million. And that is over the investments in property. But, it's difficult to get details on where the funds will come from or the shareholding pattern. All we know is that Ariana Zand, chief planner and architect of Kaiser Permanente, one of America's largest healthcare firms will design, plan and market the project. Sodexho of France is the maintenance and catering managers while Australia's Health Solutions is the management partner. Royal Prince Albert hospitals of Australia will develop clinical protocols and Swiss firm Samuel Creations is executing the project. "Our commitment to the Indian government is that the hospital will have international accreditation in Australia and America," says Singh. SEDH chairman Robert A. Cruickshanks adds: "To make it an international destination, we need international recognition and we intend to do that."

For the past five years SEDH has been busy setting up a 307-bed hospital in Kohima - the Naga Hospital. It is training nurses for Australia as part of its global nursing programme. Besides, it has acquired 15,000 acres of land near Jaisalmer for animal rearing and is developing an integrated international health food project. The company certainly has not been idle!