Healing In Style

Luxury hospitals go beyond providing clinical excellence; they now offer therapeutic care with facilities like yachts, salons and malls

- Manu Balachandran

INDIA IS IN THE MIDDLE of a health care revolution. On the one hand, the Narendra Modi government has unleashed one of the world’s biggest health care reforms through the recently launched Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Touted as the world’s largest government-funded health care programme, it aims to have more than 50 crore beneficiaries, providing health cover of up to 5 lakh per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

On the other hand, there are well-established hospitals offering services that were unimaginable a few decades ago, as wealth in Asia’s third-largest economy soars. These hospitals are targeting India’s uber rich through a slew of luxurious offerings that include everything from pick-ups to lounges and even yacht rides.

Take, for instance, New Delhi-based Fortis Memorial Research Institute whose offerings include some of the most expensive artworks, a dancing fountain, a mall, retail outlets and a lounge to relax in. There is also a café and food court in the hospital that is spread across 12 acres; it is estimated to have cost around $84 million (500 crore).