Covid-19 related hospitalisation almost gone; see medical tourism picking up: Max Healthcare

As Covid cases see a decline in the country and international flights return to normalcy, Abhay Soi, Chairman & MD, Max Healthcare, expects medical tourism to pick up soon. Soi said that medical tourism is back to around 3/4^th of pre-Covid levels.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, he said, “Business seems to be back. We see a lot of international medical tourism and India’s medical tourism should be back in the next couple of months.”

Soi said that Covid-19 is pretty much gone from a hospitalisation standpoint. He explained that they have a shortage of beds and are waiting for new capacities to come on stream. Going ahead, he expects average revenue per occupied bed and EBITDA per bed to be healthy. He shared that the pricing impact on the topline is around 1.5-2 percent.

He said, “We have a massive shortage of beds at hospitals now because we are operating in about 75 percent of occupancy and on a sustainable basis can do about 77-78 percent and international business, which is post lifting of international flight bans expected to come back to 100 percent or more in the next couple of months.”

Private equity major KKR’s affiliate Kayak Investment has sold 10 percent of its stake in Max Healthcare. The stake sale consisted of around 9.6 crore shares at Rs 340 a piece. Prior to the sale, KKR held around 37.5 percent in Max Healthcare.

When asked about the stake sale, Soi said that he didn't know the reason behind the same.  He further mentioned that KKR won't be able to sell any of its stake in the next 90 days.

Watch the accompanying video for the entire interview