Apollo Hospitals to set up 100th Apollo Clinic

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The Corporate Apollo Hospitals, the largest integrated healthcare company in the country, on Wednesday, Aug 27 signed an agreement for the setting up of the 100th 'Apollo clinic' and announced that it would establish 100 more clinics in the next two years.

Talking to newspersons here after signing an agreement with Mr Arvind Saraogi to set up the 100th Apollo clinic at Rajerhat near Kolkata on franchisee, Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Group, said the hospital would continue to offer top quality primary healthcare services in the country at a value for money price.

He said the Hospital, which had taken about seven years to establish the 100th clinic, most of them on franchisee model, would reach the 200 mark in the next two years as it had conceptualised a model.''We will continue to focus on franchisee model, without compromising on the quality, while looking at 'Owned Clinics' to accelerate,'' he said, adding, in the next 100 clinics, a large percentage of them would be owned clinics.

Dr Reddy said Apollo had so far conducted 64,000 heart surgeries with 99.6 per cent results and emerged as one of the top three hospitals in the world to maintain the record.Claiming that Apollo had the best technology for heart surgery in the country, he said the company was the first to introduce MRI scan and 64 slice CT scan for heart. It would soon bring to India the latest technology in CT scan.

By the end of this year, Apollo would introduce Universal Healthcare Identifier (UHID) for all its patients, acorss the country. This would help them walk into any hospital in the world and produce their data, by a touch of a button on the internet.Dr Reddy said Apollo would also launch an awareness campaign on healthcare.

He suggested starting of evening colleges, utilising the available healthcare facilities to produce specialists in various fields.On Corporate Social Responsibility, he said the hospital has screened more than two lakh poor children and conducted heart surgeries for more than 2,000 children, free of cost.

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Apollo Health to invest Rs. 1,400 cr.

To increase the number of Apollo Clinics to 300

NEW DELHI: Medical care provider Apollo Health and Lifestyle plans to invest around Rs. 1,400 crore in the next 3-4 years on expanding its presence across the country with its different formats.

The company will spend Rs. 600 crore in setting up around 30 hospitals in Tier-II cities under the brand 'Reach Hospitals' and Rs. 600 crore to increase the number of Apollo Clinics to 300 in 3-4 years. It is also investing Rs. 200 crore on expanding network of maternity hospital chain, Cradle.

"The Reach Hospitals are specifically designed hospitals for the Tier-II cities and some of them would have specialised services such as cardiology or cancer care and each of them would cost around Rs. 20 crore, excluding real estate costs," Apollo Health and Lifestyle CEO Ratan Jalan said on the sidelines of retail event 'Franchise India 2008'. Each of these hospitals would have a capacity of around 100 beds and would require an investment of around Rs. 20 crore each, he added.

Mr. Jalan said most of Apollo Clinics would be set up through the franchise mode. They would require an investment of around Rs. 2-3 crore each. — PTI

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MADURAI: Encouraged by the State Government's relaxations on procedures for organ donation, the Madurai wing of the Apollo Hospitals Group is all set to perform its first heart transplant in the first half of 2009.

Physical and medical infrastructure required for carrying out transplants is being installed and the hospital management describes the move as a major leap in cardiac care for southern districts.

Speaking to "The Hindu" here on Saturday, George Eapen, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Hospitals Group, said that public awareness of organ donation had gone up in recent months and there was a requirement to set up a facility for heart transplant.

"The medical infrastructure at our Madurai (Apollo Speciality Hospitals) unit is being upgraded. We hope to do a heart transplant soon," he said.

Mr. Eapen was here to participate in a focused conference for southern districts, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Madurai Zone, under the theme SPEED (Southern Prosperity through Enhanced Economic Development).

Bed strength goes up
The bed strength at the 225-bedded Apollo Speciality Hospitals here is being increased by adding another 50. Another major initiative on hand for the Apollo Group is to open its proposed nursing college in Madurai. "The nursing college will be opened in June with 60 students. All these steps are a boon to healthcare in southern districts," Mr. Eapen said.

According to Rohini Sridhar, Director of Medical Services, the operation theatre has been upgraded with advanced cardiac equipment and an additional theatre is also ready.

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Physical and medical infrastructure required for carrying out transplants is being installed and the hospital management describes the move as a major leap in cardiac care for southern districts.





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