The Hindu Business Line : Apollo Health eyeing Pakistan market

THE success of Baby Noor's surgery in India seems to have opened a window of opportunity for the local healthcare industry. And with improving India-Pakistan relations, healthcare company, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd, is looking at expanding its operations to the country.

"We have received enquires from Pakistan and we hope to have a presence in that country. We are in advanced stage of discussions," said Mr Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle.

The company signed an agreement with StarCare Health System of Bangladesh to set up 8 to 10 Apollo clinics in the country.

According to Dr Mohammad Akhter Hossain, Managing Director, StarCare Health, "Our understanding of the health requirements of the people of Bangladesh and the limited presence of quality primary healthcare infrastructure in Bangladesh clearly highlight the existence of a demand supply gap. We intend to pool our past experience with the extensive expertise of the Apollo Clinics."

Other neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Nepal are also on the radar screen. He also added that the company is looking at alliances in some of the African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana and has received enquiries from Singapore and England. It plans to foray into Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar and Yemen.

Apollo Health and Lifestyle is planning to open 250 franchised clinics in the next five years and is hoping to generate revenues of Rs 1,000 crore from them. Currently, the company generates about Rs 10 crore from the existing clinics. "We intend to utilise our expertise, standards and cost-competitiveness to tap this opportunity," Mr Jalan said.

On the Apollo Hospitals, Mr Jalan said that there are about 30 hospitals across the country including some of the smaller towns of Ahmedabad, Ranchi and Visakhapatnam. It is also eyeing a pie in the international market. The company already operates one in Colombo and is in the process of helping Petronas of Malaysia to build and manage a multi-speciality hospital. It is also associating itself for a hospital in Dubai. The turnover from hospitals is expected to touch Rs 500 crore.

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