A passenger on a train narrated how a member of a business family in Madhya Pradesh died of shock after exhausting all their savings on medical treatment. Others chimed in with horror stories—long lists of scams involving doctors, hospitals, and diagnostic labs. The truth is, India’s hospitals are being sold off, and along with them, the trust of patients!

There was a time when hospitals were temples of service, but now they’re trapped in a corporate web. Multinational corporations and private equity giants are turning healthcare into a profit machine through billion-dollar deals. Treatment costs are skyrocketing, the middle class is drowning in debt, and government hospitals are on the brink of collapse. This corporate takeover isn’t just swallowing beds and machines—it’s devouring humanity itself. Has our health been reduced to just another bargaining chip? 

Read in Hindi: जब इलाज बन जाए मुनाफे का गंदा धंधा…

India’s healthcare sector was once woven together by charitable hospitals, government facilities, and small private clinics. But now, multinational corporations and private equity giants have entered the arena. The deals are massive, aggressive, and aimed at transforming healthcare into a profit-driven industry.

The latest transactions read like a who’s who of global finance. In 2024, Dr Azad Moopen’s Aster DM Healthcare merged with Quality Care India in a $5 billion deal backed by PE giants like Blackstone and TPG, creating India’s third-largest hospital chain with 35 hospitals across seven states. 

Singapore’s Temasek Holdings invested $2 billion in Manipal Health in 2023, acquiring a major stake and valuing it at nearly ₹40,000 crore. Manipal later acquired Pune’s Sahyadri Hospitals for ₹6,400 crore, expanding its capacity to 12,000 beds—one of India’s most expensive healthcare deals. 

Global investment firm KKR took a controlling stake in Kerala’s Baby Memorial Hospital in 2024. Malaysia’s IHH Healthcare, which acquired Fortis Healthcare in 2018, bought Medeor Hospital in Manesar for ₹225 crore in 2023. Today, Fortis operates 27 hospitals with 7,300 beds. 

Blackstone acquired a 51 per cent stake in Healthcare Global Enterprises for around $400 million in 2024. Between 2022 and 2024, the hospital sector accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the $30 billion in mergers, acquisitions, and PE deals. Since 2000, the sector has attracted $11.19 billion in FDI. 

On paper, these investments promise better infrastructure, wider access, and advanced technology. But in reality, corporatisation is turning healthcare into a profit-centric business, widening the gap between rich and poor. 

Corporate hospitals are expanding into small towns—not for public welfare, but to capture new markets. They prioritise high-profit departments like cancer, cardiology, and fertility, while neglecting basic and preventive care. The result? Soaring treatment costs, where even a short hospital stay can bankrupt the middle class. 

A 2025 RAND study in the US revealed that private insurers pay 224 per cent more than Medicare for the same treatments. India faces the same issue—private hospitals charge several times more than government hospitals for identical procedures. 

Health insurance, once touted as the solution to rising costs, has become part of the problem. Corporate hospitals and insurers inflate bills, prescribe unnecessary tests, and maximise claims. Patients lured by ‘cashless hospitalisation’ later find claims denied, hidden charges added, and policy loopholes pushing them into debt.

Meanwhile, government hospitals, the lifeline for 70 per cent of Indians, are crumbling. India’s health budget is just 2.1 per cent of GDP, leading to overcrowding, staff shortages, and outdated equipment. This neglect seems like a calculated move—forcing people toward private hospitals where profit comes before patients. 

Medical ethics are fading fast. Doctors are pressured to meet ‘performance targets’, turning them into profit-generating machines. While ‘star doctors’ charge lakhs, junior doctors toil for meagre pay. 

Patients are no longer treated with dignity—they’re seen as ‘customers’. Many hospitals demand advance payments, add arbitrary charges to bills, and even detain patients who can’t pay. The sacred trust between doctor and patient is broken—replaced by pure transactional relationships. 

As corporations tighten their grip, India must ask: Has healthcare become a luxury rather than a fundamental right? If profit remains the driving force, the human cost will only grow. The system needs urgent reform—before it’s too late.