‘Hospitals’ revenue likely to grow 20-22% in FY2022

Hospitals are likely to witness revenue growth of around 20-22 per cent in FY2022 along with strong profitability, ratings agency ICRA said in a report on Tuesday.

The first wave of Covid-19 had hit the hospitals hard, with almost all hospitals reporting losses in Q1 FY2021. Occupancies had plunged significantly, medical tourism came to a standstill, OPD visits were curtailed and electives were postponed.

But, with the easing of lockdown restrictions and decline in Covid cases, the occupancies recovered subsequently and almost reached pre-Covid levels by Q4 FY2021.

Occupancies are likely to improve to 61-63 per cent in FY2022, from 52.5 per cent in FY2021 due to higher hospitalisations on account of second wave of Covid-19 and year-on-year (y-o-y) increase in number of elective procedures owing to less restrictive lockdown as well as higher vaccination coverage, the agency report said.

Further, the current sluggish pace of capex is also expected to pick up, mainly via addition of beds in existing facilities in near term. Some of the larger players are actively scouting for inorganic opportunities.

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