- Currently, 70% of beds in the country are in government hospitals, but 80% of the population seeks private health care
- Unlike in developed countries, more than 70% of health care expenditure in India is out-of-pocket (in the case of LifeSpring, fewer than 10% of our customers have health insurance)
- Patients are served by a fragmented hospital system, with more than 80% of hospitals having fewer than 30 beds and only 1% managing more than 100 beds
"With more than half of the US$18 million that Acumen has invested in India going towards health care, one of its most successful investments is its joint venture with private-sector Hindustan Latex to develop the LifeSpring Hospitals network. Providing high-quality, bare-bones maternity and child health care to low-income Indians, LifeSpring has cared for more than 70,000 patients and has delivered 4,500 babies. By 2012, LifeSpring expects to have set up 30 hospitals across the country and it plans to use a franchising model to greatly expand the number and geographic coverage of its hospitals.
Relentless cost control has, and will continue to be, key. LifeSpring only spends between US$150,000 and US$200,000 to set up each of its nine hospitals, rents its facilities instead of owning them, and has standardized processes. But perhaps more critical to keeping a lid on costs, said Sahni, is avoiding the temptation to branch out into other areas of health care and staying focused on what it does best: providing maternal care."
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