So long, Parel has been the address of the best public hospitals in Mumbai. Now, Global Hospital will add a corporate edge to the lane that leads to the 1,800-bedded KEM Hospital, the 500-bedded Tata Memorial Hospital and Wadia women & children's hospitals. Global will, in the next few weeks, open its doors as the city's transplant specialty centre.

But the Hyderabad-based group isn't the only one coming up with a hospital in the more-south-than-north Mumbai. Work on Wockhardt Hospital's new project in Mumbai Central is almost over. "It is right opposite Nair Hospital and is well-connected in terms of transport,'' said a doctor. A few days ago, Bangalore-based heart surgeon Dr Devi Shetty announced his group, Narayana Hrudayalaya's entry into Mumbai.

The Society for Rehabilitation of Crippled Children, an NGO operating out of government-gifted land in Haji Ali, has asked Narayana Hrudayalaya to set up and manage a 1,000-bedded paediatrics hospital.

New hospital projects are coming up across the city's length and breadth and most existing private hospitals have registered an average revenue growth of over 30% in three years from 2007 to 2010.

Action in the hospital industry segment seems to have come full circle. Thirty years ago, most private hospitals in Mumbai came up in the south on land 'gifted' by charitable trusts. As the city grew northwards, the simple supply-demand ratio resulted in many hospital groups coming up in the northern suburbs; for example, Kokilaben Ambani Hospital in Andheri, L H Hiranandani Hospital in Powai and Fortis Hospital in Mulund. But south Mumbai seems to be back in demand. "Work is also going on a 500-bedded hospital in Worli that is supported by a trust run by former chief minister A R Antulay,'' said Dr Vivek Desai, who runs a hospital consultancy group called Hosmac.