KOLKATA: The Rs 50,000-crore diversified conglomerate, ITC Ltd , which has interests in FMCG, tobacco and hospitality, has decided to set up a multi-speciality hospital to mark its foray into the healthcare sector.Chairman Y C Deveshwar announced this after the company’s annual general meeting on Friday. The proposed hospital will provide incentives to doctors based on how well they serve patients and not for bringing in business for the establishment, he said. The objective of hospitals, Deveshwar said, should not be just revenue generation, but taking good care of patients. However, he made it clear that the company had not yet decided on the location of the hospital.“The demand for good healthcare facility is growing in our country. We want to address this,” Deveshwar said, adding that many hospitals in the country were being run with a revenue-generation motive since their owners had borrowed money to set them up. “We want to create a new standard for hospitals. In our hospital, payment to the doctors and other staff would be linked with patient-care and not revenue-generation. There would not be any incentive to doctors for earning revenue from patients,” he added.There are a lot of instances where ‘out patients’ are being converted to ‘day patients’ and ‘day patients’ being needlessly admitted by doctors to help the hospital earn revenue, he pointed out.Deveshwar, however, said ITC would first appoint a CEO for the healthcare sector before formulating a detail plan for its foray into this sector.“We are not experts on this sector so we need an experienced CEO,” he said.Deveshwar indicated that though ITC is likely to start with one multi-speciality hospital, it may later have a chain. The company’s non-tobacco business accounts for 58% of its net revenue.Healthcare experts feel that a multi-speciality hospital with state-of-the-art facilities could cost over Rs 1,000 crore. Incidentally, ITC had earlier this year passed an enabling resolution for changing article of association paving the way for its entry into healthcare.Private hospitals in Kolkata cheered the announcement. “This is a very positive development. ITC should bring in much-needed investment into the sector along with a healthy corporate culture. Health sector is starved of investment in Bengal . So, this announcement comes at the right time,” said Alok Roy , chairperson, Medica Superspecialty Hospital.