Dr Soma Raju shifts to AIG

Hyderabad: The buzz in super speciality hospitals in the city is about the shifting of senior cardiologist Dr Soma Raju from Care Hospitals to the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology at Gachibowli and how this will affect Care which was seen very much as his baby.Dr Raju, a well-known cardiologist sees about 40 out-patients daily, apart from his surgical cases.

He has built a tremendous reputation for himself and there are patients who only want to be treated by him. Should these patients move to the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology along with him, it will entail a revenue loss to Care Hospital estimated at Rs 2 crore per month.

The 800-bed AIG is going to have a cardiology unit. Work is apace to make it a hospital with all the major super specialities.

The shift of Dr Raju will strengthen emergency cardiac care in the unit as there are no government hospitals in the vicinity of AIG.

Dr Raju worked for a decade with the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences and was the head of its cardiology unit and dean. He moved to Mediciti Hospital and then started Care Hospital at Nampally in 1995.

During the last five years, Care Hospital has been expanding and different groups took stakes in the company. It is learnt that Dr Raju has given up his entire stake and is moving out.

The final deal was for `1,800 crore. Dr Soma Raju worked till October 22 with Care Hospital.

Dr Raajiv Singhal, Care Hospital's chief executive officer, explained, "There are many seniors in the  cardiology team and only some have gone with Dr Raju. Eight cardiologists will join us. We are very frank with the patients and tell them that Dr Soma Raju is not working with us anymore. There has not been any incidence of the patient going away."

AIG Hospitals, Gachibowli has put out a list of 22 cardiologists who have joined the hospital along with Dr Raju. The team has been at the forefront of innovative and complex cardiac services having a total of over 1 lakh angiograms and 25,000 angioplasties between them. More than 10,000 device implantations have been done by renowned electrophysiologist Dr C Narasimhan.

Dr D. Nageshwar Reddy, chairman, AIG Hospitals, said, “Apart from being a great clinician, Dr Soma Raju has an unwavering commitment to academics and research. We will utilise his experience and knowledge to undertake cutting-edge research to develop newer technologies in our crusade against heart disease.”