NEW DELHI: On Friday, the board of cash-strapped Fortis Healthcare unanimously accepted a binding offer from Malaysia 's IHH Healthcare Berhad to invest Rs 4,000 crore in it by way of preferential allotment at Rs 170 per share.IHH Healthcare, Asia's largest hospital operator, will thus acquire a chain of 30 hospitals with 6,500 beds from Fortis Healthcare which is currently India's second-biggest hospital chain.The deal however, is not a first of its kind. As government spending on healthcare has stagnated over the years, the private healthcare industry has boomed. Profits of India's five biggest hospital chains rose 80 per cent between 2012 and 2017.Sensing an opportunity, private equity investors have made an investment of over $3.4 billion in Indian hospitals between 2007 and 2017. The investments from overseas funds started after 2000, when India allowed 100 per cent foreign direct investment ( FDI ) in the hospital sector.The sorry figure that India cuts as far as healthcare infrastructure is concerned, is also a boon for the investors. India has just 7 hospital beds per 10,000 people (one of the lowest in the world) which means a 65 to 70 per cent average occupancy for big hospitals (amongst the highest in the world).The government's new health insurance scheme that envisions providing cashless insurance up to Rs 5 lakh for 10.74 crore poor families will benefit private hospitals such as those run by Fortis because of severe lack of adequate health facilities in the country.Moreover, the government says India's medical tourism could be worth $9 billion by 2020, up from $3 billion in 2015. Notably, around 20 per cent of Fortis’ business is from overseas customers.