The infrastructure finance company is planning to float a joint venture company which will offer management services to hospitals, including taking up the day-to-day management of existing hospitals. It is also in the process of bringing in niche healthcare services like tele-medicine and paramedic services in partnership with domestic and international experts in the field.

This is part of the new thrust by IL&FS to develop social infrastructure in the areas of health and education. IL&FS had recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Morgan Media Inc of Canada to float a similar joint venture company in the field of computer education, while it has already formed a joint venture with Kampsax for providing design engineering in roads and ports sector. The logic behind the exercise is to develop model projects and infrastructure in the fieldsof health and education, which will provide a commercially viable framework for future collaborations between public and private sector in these sectors. "Our attempt is to bring expertise in niche healthcare services and to ensure delivery and reach of such services. Our emphasis is also to bring in cross subsidies. Existing hospitals can provide premium services. This will bring in enough resources to subsidise poorer sections of the population and to expand capacities and add new capabilities," sources said.

IL & FS will act as a strategic investor in creating facilities at smaller centres where such facilities are not currently available. The undisclosed joint venture partner for hospital management has international experience in managing hospitals and executing turnkey health and hospital projects.

IL&FS has already initiated talks with a couple of hospitals to take up their management and help them to operate more efficiently. This could be by segregating the functioning of hospital into asubsidised and paying portion. Most hospitals in India are funded either by governments or charitable trusts and offer subsidised treatment. Due to delays in annual fund allocation and shortage of fresh resources, the working of these hospitals are constrained and they are unable to expand capacities and add new capabilities.

IL&FS will get into the picture here by improving the cash-flow management as well as mobilise fresh capital resources for further development of the hospital's facilities.

Apart from taking management of hospitals, IL & FS will help in setting up of specialist heart-care centres, in association with people already involved in the field. The financing would be equity-linked. Another area will be directed financing to smaller organisation for setting up efficient check-up and diagnostic centres.

It also has plans to facilitate the setting up of a series of mother and child-care centres, ambulatory day-care centres and eventually home-paramedical services. At a time when the healthinsurance sector is being opened up and with the growing importance of disease management, it is felt that efficiently-organised health centres and hospitals' demand will grow.