PlanetHospital plans to open Detroit-area call center in 2010
Rudy Rupak, CEO of PlanetHospital, said he has looked at office space in Ferndale and may also consider Dearborn or other areas for a call center that initially would employ 30 to 40 workers. He estimated the value of the planned investment at $1.1 million.
“The goal of having a call center some place, and most likely in Michigan, is definitely in the cards for us,” Rupak told Business Review.
Plans for the center are in the early stages, Rupak said, and the company has been in contact with the Michigan Economic Development Corp., which also referred it to the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.
Bridget Beckman, a spokeswoman for the MEDC, said the agency has received materials about the company but no formal application for tax incentives.
“We’re certainly willing to meet with the company, we just haven’t been provided the opportunity to do so yet,” Beckman said.
A spokeswoman for the DEGC did not return a message seeking comment.
Calabasas, Calif.-based PlanetHospital works with a global network of hospitals accredited by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua). Since forming in 2002, the company claims to have “exported” more than 140 patients for specialty elective procedures, most of them from the Middle East, China and Southeast Asia. Some have come to the U.S. for treatment, Rupak said.
Rupak said he has pitched medical tourism to General Motors Co. in Detroit and wants to approach the United Auto Workers about helping the union to save money on health care while creating jobs in Michigan. The company has enlisted the help of Detroit-based law firm Clark Hill.
Rupak said the area’s wealth of available talent and multi-lingual residents are big draws. The company also operates offices in Saudi Arabia and Nice, France, Rupak said.
— Sven Gustafson writes about health care and other topics for Michigan Business Review.
Comments
philmorris322
Mon, Nov 12, 2012 : 2:03 p.m.
We would like to inform you that Kiran Infertility Centre has decided to terminate its relationship with PlanetHospital. the reason for the same was because of all the irregularities and fraud and money laundering committed by Mr. Rudy Rupak Acharya during his time with PlanetHospital as CEO of PlanetHospital. He has committed acts to de-fame Kiran Infertility Centre by spreading wrong information, creating false web-sites and e-mail IDs of Kiran Infertility Centre and its associates and providing false information to clients.
BobRossbach
Fri, Aug 7, 2009 : 5:28 p.m.
I'm an outside consultant for Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. Sorry we didn't get back to you, but DEGC generally doesn't confirm contacts it has with private companies until it is appropriate to announce them publicly. DEGC did recently work with the City of Detroit to help AT&T set up a substantial call center in Detroit. Part of the help provided by the City was workforce development, to assure AT&T it would have a pool of qualified candidates for the call center. DEGC welcomes all companies to Michigan, and Detroit most of all!