An Indian company has partnered with Kenyan doctors and international financial institutions to set up a Sh500 million hospital in Nairobi.

Narayana Hrudayalaya Limited (NH) said it would initially own a 26 per cent equity stake in the operational entity for a consideration of $1.325 million (Sh132.5million).

"The company hereby informs that, NH through its wholly owned subsidiary has entered into an agreement with prominent Kenyan doctors and couple of leading international financial institutions to establish a multi-specialty hospital in Nairobi, Kenya," the firm's company secretary said in a statement of disclosure to the National Stock Exchange of India Limited last week.

"The multi-specialty hospital will be a state-of-the-art tertiary care facility poised to cater to patients across different specialties," the firm said the notification to Mumbai based Stock Exchange.
The firm, which trades Narayana Health, did not however reveal who the prominent doctors it has partnered with are. It also did not reveal the other investors in the venture. Details of where the hospital will also be located in Nairobi are also still scanty.

The firm said the 130 bedded hospital will provide 'affordable quality care that Narayana stands for' a signal that it will establish itself as a price sensitive operation in what is set to give competition to high end hospitals such as the Nairobi Hospital and Aga Khan hospitals.

"The multi-specialty hospital in Nairobi will aim to address issues of affordability and accessibility to quality healthcare services in Kenya and the neighbouring African region," Dr Ashtosh Raghuvanshi, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Narayana Hrudayalaya Limited said in a statement.

Narayana was founded in 2000 and it is headquartered in Bengaluru, the capital of India's southern Karnataka State. The healthcare operates a chain of tertiary and primary healthcare facilities in India. It has a network of 23 hospitals and seven heart centres across India. More than 10,000 Kenyans travel abroad each year seeking treatment for various ailments, especially cancer.

Last year President Uhuru Kenyatta and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi started talks that opened doors for hospitals from the Asian country to set up shop locally  to stop the flow of Kenyans seeking treatment abroad. The greatest selling point for India's growing medical tourism industry is its drastically low costs compared to other countries that offer the same standard of care.