The Hindu Business Line : Apollo to set up clinics in factory premises

Chennai, Feb. 5 A chain of clinics in various factory premises or industrial clusters and another chain of clinics in West Asia are among the immediate plans of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, which is also looking out for acquiring hospitals, the company’s Director-Finance, Ms Suneetha Reddy, said.

She told Business Line Apollo was likely to start one clinic at the Nokia plant near Chennai and another in the Mahindra World City, an SEZ also near Chennai. These clinics will basically look after all the employees and their families.

Today, while all the larger manufacturing units have the mandatory medical facility, the facilities are just about equipped to function as first-aid centres. Apollo’s clinics will be sort of mini hospitals. They will also focus on preventive medicine, Ms Reddy said. This approach recognises a trend of shift in health problems from infectious diseases to ‘lifestyle diseases’.

Expansion mode

Apollo is also on an expansion mode, with hospital projects in Chennai, Visakhapatnam and Bhubhaneshwar getting under way. It’s presence in Chennai is set to grow fastest, as there are two greenfield projects coming up in the city alongside the expansion of the First Med Hospital.

The company has been following a three-tier model for providing healthcare services. It has primary, secondary and tertiary hospitals.

The primary units are clinics while the tertiary are full-fledged, multi-speciality hospitals. Expansion is planned for all the three types of units.

Ms Reddy said that with a view to ensuring best care, Apollo spends Rs 35 lakh per bed in the ‘secondary’ hospitals and Rs 70 lakh per bed on the ‘tertiary’ kind. In all, Apollo Hospitals intends to add 1,400 beds.

Co-operation pact

Apollo on Tuesday signed an MoU with Tenet Healthcare Corporation, one of the leading hospital chains in the US, for co-operation.

Initially, the two hospital groups will exchange managers. Later, they will explore opportunities for jointly working in research.

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