The eye care chain runs 75 centres across the globe, with 14 of them in Africa. It plans to grow its network to 150 by 2020 across the globe.
The firm follows in the footsteps of several Indian giant chains which have set up base in Kenya to capitalise on huge demand for India’s specialist medical services.
The 60-year old Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed eye care chain said the proposed facilities in Kenya and Tanzania would target patients from the region.
India-based Dr Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, which handles complicated eye cases, plans to expand its operations into the Kenyan market.
The eye care chain announced last week that it has raised about Sh2.55 billion ($24.6 million) in structured debt from a private equity fund, with some of the capital earmarked for new eye clinics in Kenya and Tanzania.
The 60-year old Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed eye care chain said the proposed facilities in Kenya and Tanzania would target patients from the wider East Africa region, in addition to an already existing unit in Rwanda.
“We have new projects coming up in Tanzania and Kenya…our hospitals in Africa are larger than our Indian centres as they are built to cater to an entire country,” the hospital chain’s chief executive officer Adil Agarwal was quoted saying by Indian media.
The eye care chain runs 75 centres across the globe, with 14 of them in Africa. It plans to grow its network to 150 by 2020 across the globe.
The hospital’s unit in Rwanda handles retina surgery, hi-tech cataract surgery, glaucoma, paediatric ophthalmology and corneal transplantation.
The hospital’s management were yet to respond to Business Daily's queries on the timelines for the setting up of the Kenya unit and the capital it expects to deploy in the country.
The firm follows in the footsteps of several Indian giant chains which have set up base in Kenya to capitalise on huge demand for India’s specialist medical services.
In April this year, Bangalore-based Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd (HCG), one of India’s largest cancer treatment hospital chains, announced it had agreed to buy a majority stake in a Kenyan cancer care centre.
HCG, which has 17 cancer treatment centres across India, said it will buy a 93.66 per cent stake in Nairobi-based Cancer Care Kenya Ltd (CCK) for Sh93.15 million in cash.
