In the next few years, Apollo Hospitals will augment its existing capacity of 10,000 beds with 2,000 beds. Of them, the new facility in Chennai will have around 600 beds, Prathap C. Reddy, founder and chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said.
Having served for forty years in healthcare, Apollo Hospitals has over 70 hospitals, 10,000 beds, 400 clinics, 2,000 diagnostic centres and nearly 6,000 pharmacies. All this was to take access to healthcare closer to the patient, he said.
“We will do much more. In the next three years, we have planned to add another 2,000 beds. We will have new hospitals in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. We are present not only in metros but also in smaller towns (tier-II cities), and will also look at four to five more tier-II cities,” Mr. Reddy added. The facilities would have 500-600 beds each, Dr. Reddy said.
“All our hospitals, including those in smaller towns, will adopt complete technology. That is our desire, and this is where we will move to,” he said.
Dr. Reddy had earlier noted that technology was going to make a significant impact on healthcare. “We are right there. Last year, of the six awards for healthcare technology at the global level, Apollo got two.”
Noting that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were a serious problem, he said projections show that 80% of the deaths would be from NCDs.
“After diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, infections and cancers, today we can add obesity and mental illness. We are giving greater importance to preventive care. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), we now have ProHealth (a preventive care programme) that will give a permanent health record...; it will also give the risk factors,” he said.
This year, ‘Apollo One’, a dedicated advanced diagnostic centre, is being launched. The first centre is opening in September in Chennai.
“We are going to start ‘Apollo Connect’ that would connect primary hospitals to our command centre,” he said.
The initiative would extend Apollo’s care to any National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers-accredited primary and secondary healthcare facility in the country. This will empower the facilities to harness Apollo’s clinical acumen and modern infrastructure for advanced procedures, including eICU, and second opinion services.
“Other countries have shown interest. But, this year, it will be India, first connecting 200 hospitals, and then, another 250, and later [we will] look at foreign countries. This will facilitate provision of immediate second opinions at the primary-care level,” he said.
