A hotel that doubles as a hospital? Meet the fountain of youth that's the future of medical tourism in SA

Doctor couple Dr Anushka Reddy and Dr Mahesh Naidu have turned SA medical tourism on its head with the newly-launched Vivari Hotel and Spa. 

The hotel was opened in the West Rand recently and includes a hospital offering cosmetic and weight loss surgery.

“Despite not being in the hospitality or hospital industry, we are entrepreneurs at heart and restless souls who are always looking for opportunities. We realised that building a hotel on its own would just be the same old thing, but a combination of a hotel with the hospital would probably be the most unique and innovative concept in SA,” said Reddy.

Reddy said the West Rand is “underutilised and underappreciated” and the hotel will drive traffic to the area, creating jobs.

The hotel was originally bought by the couple in 2012 and was completely refurbished over 10 years to become a five-star establishment.

Reddy is an aesthetic doctor with a special interest in anti-ageing and Naidu is a physician in private practice at Robinson Hospital.

Reddy said a moratorium on hospital licences by the Gauteng department of health meant they had to make some adjustments to make their dream of a luxury hospital and hotel a reality.

“We pursued the matter with them and never gave up until they granted it. We built a department of health-accredited day hospital with state of the art facilities that catered specifically for cosmetic and weight loss surgery.”

They hope visitors will also take advantage of the hotel's proximity to the world heritage site, the Cradle of Humankind.

“We saw the need for medical tourism to be developed in South Africa and noticed it was particularly lacking in Johannesburg. We strongly believed we could convince international medical tourists to come to our facility for cosmetic or weight loss surgery which would pique interest in the area as well as bring in much-needed foreign currency.”

They hope to be trailblazers on the continent.

“Since it is an innovative concept not only for South Africa but in Africa, we are hoping that together with South African Tourism and Brand SA that SA will be marketed as a medical tourist destination. In that event it would open doors for us to expand the Vivari Brand to Durban and Cape Town.”