The Chairman of the Apollo Group of Hospitals, Dr. Pratap C. Reddy, who revolutionized the health care system in India and pioneered the establishment of private specialty hospitals in India, got the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second highest civilian award, on the occasion of this year’s Republic Day.
Talking to this Asian Tribune writer on Saturday, Dr. Reddy who was receiving a stream of visitors greeting him on his getting highest National award, was in his contended cool spirits. He said 84,000 heart surgeries have been done in 27 years so far with 99.4 per cent success rate comparable with one or two lead hospitals abroad.
Today the Apollo Hospitals Group has over 46 centers in major metropolises (Bangalore, New Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad) in India with a combined turnover of over US $ 100 million. Mr. Reddy has recently made announcement about the opening of its 47th hospital with 300-bed capacity in Bhubaneswar "by mid-February 2010, in the Temple City of Bhubaneswar (Orissa) with modern diagnostic equipments and super-speciality services.” It will be linked to global centres via a dedicated telemedicine network.
Chennai city is already known as the Health capital of India; Dr Reddy wants to make Chennai, a Diabetics capital, Heart capital and Cancer capital of the world. He says Cancer is ‘death sentence’; however, if it is detected early 100 per cent cure can be found; chances with heart cases are about 60 %. “We must reverse the trend with health care awareness, and making available the best treatment programmes,” he says.
Apollo over the last decade has demonstrated that Indian skills are equivalent to the best centers in the world and has produced world-class results in the most complicated Cadaver Transplant, he says.
Those in power and affluent, used to go for the best medical programmes to the West, a fifty years before. Dr. Reddy brought the ‘West’ here and made it available to the common man at his affordable level. Today people have the opportunity in India to receive the best that healthcare has to offer worldwide.
Dr. Reddy proudly declares that 17 per cent of his patience are from overseas.
How milestone in Indian Healthcare Industry came to be set
What prompted him to do this? In 1979, Dr. Reddi was just back from the States, opting to give up his successful practice in the US in deference to the wishes of his parents to serve in India, and was practicing as a cardiologist, operating to one extent—medical treatment. The complicated cases, he used to refer for surgical treatment to the Houston hospital, US. Dr. Reddy lost his young patient who couldn't make it to US for an open heart surgery for he could not afford to pay $4000. His wife and children’s cries drove him to think how to bring the same that health facility here. That was how the milestone in the Indian Healthcare Industry came to be set in Chennai.
Dr. Reddy says there were about 45, 000 Indian medical doctors in the States, of which about 6000 were specialist doctors. It is the same doctors who handle critical cases that is referred there. He saw through what was lacking here was technology and latest infrastructures, in the absence of these those doctors who have roots in India could not be lured. He got down to narrow down the margin. Driven by a deep urge to create world-class medical infrastructure in India and make it more accessible and affordable to a large cross section of our people, Dr. Pratap Reddy brought both to India—the talented Indian doctors and modern gadgets.
Undeterred by initial constraints Dr. Reddy succeeded in setting up the first center of the Apollo Hospitals Group in Chennai in 1983. He called it Apollo as he wanted to mix ‘medicine’ and ‘science’ together, he says.
This was soon followed by India's first hospital consultancy body - the Indian Hospitals Corporation - and the commissioning of two more Tertiary Care Centers in India. Not only did he set a precedent for corporate healthcare in the country, but the Government of India soon recognized his enterprising efforts leading to Financial institutions amending their funding legislation to include hospitals and board basing the scope of medical insurance.
Dr. Reddy said how two Gandhis helped his venture to grow. Not only that if a small village today is having an ultra sound equipment, it is because of them. When he told Mrs Indira Gandhi that best medical treatment was available to only those in power and affluent, she listened to his point and cut the duty on import of medical equipment from 180 per cent to nil per cent.
When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister in 1989, on Reddy’s representation, the former amended in three days in the Parliament and removed all hardships leading to liberal funding. And so the costliest medical equipments made in roads into Indian hospitals and were equipped on par with the western. Rajiv Gandhi also gave a tax exemption of Rs. 10,000.
He says when he represented the present government; he promptly got the nod for rural health care. He represented his group of hospitals numbering 46 and others numbering about 100 were only placed in metros, what about the 70 per cent of the rural India. The Finance Minister in his latest budget gave 5 year tax exemption to the rural hospitals, that enabling the Apollo-Reach hospitals opening in rural areas
The first three Reach Hospitals would become operational shortly, and financing for the initial stage involving establishment of 20 Apollo Reach Hospitals is ready.
Recently, Apollo Hospitals received $50-million as term loan from World Bank's subsidiary International Finance Corporation (IFC) for growth of its 'Reach' Hospitals.
Dr.Reddy has also been pro-active in modifying government regulations to suit current medical trends. He helped to ease import restrictions and made the government take a more liberal view on organ transplants among others.
Wants to back in Sri Lanka
Having steered the Apollo Hospitals Group to a number of locations within India, Dr. Reddy embarked on an Asian expansion plan with the first clinic in Dubai established in March 1999. Then he launched the Sri Lankan project, which was later taken over by the Insurance partner, and he had to bow out. It pains him, it was to be one of the bests there, it is in doldrums. Apollo here attends to a lot of Sri Lankans. He hopes to get back to Sri Lanka, if the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who also has peoples’ health care as his prime interest, gives nod. He says he already written to him.
He also has plans to establish hospitals in all SAARC countries.
His newest initiative is to integrate into healthcare, the digital nervous system that will eventually create a virtual Apollo Center anywhere any time. Apollo's major Web initiative, Med Varsity -a virtual medical university providing total access to experts in the field of medicine anywhere in the world and "Mednet" - Hospital Systems Management package are slated to transform the way medicine is practiced in the country.
His plans for improved accessible and affordable healthcare for the millions of our people are an ongoing process and to bring country-wide, comprehensive health insurance scheme to our people is now his obsession.
The telemedicine technology that has been successfully introduced by Dr. Reddy in India will be a key enabler in transforming the healthcare delivery in India. His blueprint for the nation includes setting up of many rural hospitals. Dr. Reddy is now looking at secondary health centers in semi urban and smaller cities and has already identified 23 sites for the same. The maiden effort in this venture has been at Aragonda, his native village and Dr. Reddy envisages that this center will serve as a model for all such projects of the Apollo Group in rural India.
Dr. Reddy has been a keen promoter of active research and exchange programmes for Doctors at Apollo with leading medical institutions for providing excellent opportunities for clinical interaction with their counterparts abroad and also for constant update of their knowledge for the optimum benefit of the mankind.
Honours he received
On receiving the Padma Vibhushan last week Dr Reddy said it was an honour he shared with the 62,000 members of the Apollo family. “At this moment, I miss my parents who brought me back to India (from the US).” The commendation to Dr. Reddy from the Government of India is an acknowledgment of the untiring pursuit for excellence in healthcare and an expression of encouragement from fellow Indians as Apollo strives towards touching a billion lives.
He was earlier awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan in February 1991. He was also presented with the Sir Neel Ratan Sarkar Award for medical excellence in June 1998. Nominated by Business India as one of the Top Fifty personalities, who have made a difference to the country in the fifty years since Independence, the country has certainly recognized his contributions. The Royal college of Surgeons of Edinburgh has conferred the Award of fellowship Ad hominem.
Dr. Reddy's firmly believes that the Indian doctors have not got their true entitlement. He is convinced that India is not only well poised to meet the healthcare challenges of the millennium, but also equipped with the talent and strength to contribute in further developing the health and economy of the world.
Dr. Reddy aims to touch a billion lives across India over the next decade and work closer with the government to make Chennai a global healthcare hub that delivers world-class tertiary care to all sections of society.
Ties up with CM’s health insurance scheme
Dr. Reddy has tied up recently with the popular Tamil Nadu government’s Kalaigner’s Insurance Scheme for Life-Saving Treatments. So far, the hospital has performed about 70 surgeries.
This way Apollo was able to reach out to the poor through the Chief Minister’s Insurance Scheme and was able to deliver tertiary care to patients from remote areas.
He says India’s healthcare challenge was to add at least one lakh hospital beds, double its healthcare human resources of doctors, triple the number of nurses and quadruple the number paramedics.
He says that Apollo Hospital will invest about Rs 1,800 crore by 2013 for strengthening its bed capacity to 13,500 across 70 operational hospitals in India as well as abroad.
For the three month period ended December 30, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise has recorded a growth of 48.70% to Rs 439.10 million. During the period, net sales of the company surged 28.92% to Rs 4,808.70 million, whereas total income increased by 29.18% to Rs 4,915.20 million. It reported an EPS of Rs 7.10 per share during the third quarter. The shares of the company closed at Rs 684.15, up 3.6%, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The share price as seen a 52-week high of Rs 749 and a low of Rs 350 on BSE.
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- Asian Tribune -
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