Fortis Healthcare Ltd has appointed a top executive of a rival company as its new CEO, as India's second-largest hospital chain spruces up its management after senior-level exits following its acquisition by Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad last year.
Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, who resigned as group CEO of Narayana Hrudayalaya a few days ago, will take up the new role effective 18 March, Fortis said in a stock market disclosure on Thursday.
Raghuvanshi had been associated with Narayana Hrudayalaya for 18 years and was its group CEO since 19 November 2010. In his 26-year career, he has also worked with Bombay Hospital, Apollo Hospitals, Vijaya Heart foundation and Manipal Heart Foundation.
"Raghuvanshi’s experience would be greatly valued in providing strategic direction and vision to the company and will ensure that our focus on clinical excellence, outcomes, patient centricity, and business results remains paramount," said Tan See Leng, managing director and CEO at IHH Healthcare and a board member at Fortis.
Raghuvanshi replaces Bhavdeep Singh, who had resigned as Fortis' chief executive officer in November last year.
Singh's resignation had come months after Fortis accepted IHH Healthcare’s takeover proposal following a protracted bidding war.
Singh was the second top executive to quit Fortis after IHH won the bidding war; Gagandeep Singh Bedi had resigned as the company's chief financial officer in August last year. Bedi had been with the company for almost seven years and was appointed CFO of Fortis in September 2014.
The bidding war had taken several twists and turns amid concerns over Fortis’ deteriorating financial health and a barrage of legal matters associated with former promoters Malvinder Singh and his brother Shivinder Singh. A media report in August had said that Bedi and Bhavdeep Singh were aware of the alleged financial misdoings by the Singh brothers.
Fortis had, in July, accepted IHH's proposal to inject as much as Rs 7,300 crore into the hospital chain, making it the largest investment in the South Asian nation's healthcare sector.
