State Bank of India is planning to sharpen its focus on the healthcare sector and is in the process of appointing a market research organisation for identifying new projects, including speciality hospitals.

"We are in the process of appointing a MRO to carry out a survey of various hospital projects that have come up in the last four to five years and new ones that are planned in 25 cities," a senior SBI official told PTI on Thursday.

Based on the results of this survey, the country's largest banking entity may also consider commissioning a similar exercise on other segments like education in services sector, which was showing significant growth in recent times, he added.

The MRO, which would be shortlisted soon, would be required to collect information on speciality or super speciality hospitals for kidney transplant and cardiac care, the official said.

He said information about new projects, both medium and large, being planned at present in each centre and the total investment required and projected or likely source of funding should also be a part of the MRO's report.

The scope of MRO's assignment would include an assessment of risk factors that could dampen the recovery prospects, descriptive overview and projections regarding the sector in the 25 identified centres and also the country as a whole, data on funding pattern, profitability of these hospitals and time taken by each category of hospital to break-even, the SBI official added.