“North Africa is going to be a major opportunity in the next few years, keeping in mind the huge natural resources there,” he said.

He, however, said that the company was not looking at investing heavily in their projects abroad. “What we are telling them (the investors) is that we will give our expertise in setting up hospitals to offer quality medicare,” he said.

“We have a war chest of Rs 2,000 crore for investments. But we will be investing those resources in Indian facilities, while joining hands with others for the expansion abroad,” he said.

The British American Investment Company, a joint venture partner with Apollo for the latter’s the $70-million facility in Mauritius, had shown interest in continuing the relationship with the Indian healthcare giant to open hospitals across the globe.

With a view to providing advanced healthcare services to Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, the group has opened a new division called Apollo Reach Hospitals.

The first such hospital would be coming up in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh. “We will be networking with the local hospitals and doctors. We are not going to be another hospital in district headquarters and other important towns. We will be offering the services that are not there,” Dr Reddy said.