Hospital plan back in good health

United States-based Keystone Global Group is pushing ahead the construction of an international hospital project in Hanoi after 13 years of delays.

The company is now completing the construction of the main block of the hospital at Cau Giay district.

“The construction work will be finished within this year,” said a project site source.

Keystone Global Group did not reply to VIR enquiries last week. But Nguyen Anh Dung, head of the Hanoi Department of Planning and Investment’s foreign investment division said the investor had pledged to put the hospital into operation at the end of this year or early 2012.

The project, known as International American Hospital, was licenced in 1997 with total registered investment capital of around $50 million. Keystone Global Group announced the hospital would have 100 beds and was a world-class healthcare facility in Hanoi.

However, only early last year construction of the project resumed though site clearance had been finished several years before. Keystone said the delay was to wait for the ministries of Public Security and Defense’s approval for building a helipad on the hospital’s top floor.

Keystone announced on its website that the hospital would focus on providing healthcare services to foreign tourists, Vietnamese overseas and foreigners in Hanoi and surrounding provinces.

The International American Hospital will contribute to fulfilling the gap between rising demand and the poor healthcare system in the country. A recent survey conducted by the Nielsen Company showed that healthcare was among the biggest concerns for Vietnamese.

Late last year, Hanoi’s French Hospital, the first international private healthcare provider in Vietnam, also announced an increase in beds from 68 to 100.

Paul Teniere, general director of the French Hospital, said the expansion was made due to a greater demand for modern healthcare services in Vietnam.

Domestic Intracom Company, which replaced Korean investor Yukjin at the $198 million Oriental Health Care Complex in Hanoi’s Tu Liem district, said it would speed up construction of the project this year.

Oriental Health Care Complex is located on a 9.5-hectare site, consisting of 57 high-tech medical departments and 1,000 beds. The investors plan to receive around 6,000 patients every day and will help reduce the current pressure on the region’s other hospitals. – VIR

Tags: Keystone Global Group