The Hindu Business Line : Apollo Reach plans big for small cities, towns

Chennai, Sept. 2 Apollo Reach Hospitals, a subsidiary of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, plans to set up a chain of 250 super-specialty hospitals in small towns and cities.

The Apollo Group is also planning a medical college and a health knowledge city.

Announcing the Apollo Reach project here today, the Apollo Group’s Executive Chairman, Dr Prathap C. Reddy, said 25 hospitals would come up in the first phase, in less than two years, at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore. Each would have 100 beds with a provision to increase to 150-200 beds. The first of these would be inaugurated in a month’s time in Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is to formally launch the project in Chennai on Friday.

The hospitals would come up in small towns and cities and complement the healthcare services offered by hospitals in the region with modern super-specialty services. Nearly a fifth of Apollo Hospitals’ patients are through referrals from other hospitals. Apollo Reach, as the name suggests, will now reach out to those people in semi-urban and rural areas instead having them come to it, Dr Reddy said.

Apollo Reach hospitals would have the facilities for offering patients super-specialty services such as cardiology, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedics, neurosurgery and emergency and trauma care.

Ms Suneeta Reddy, Executive Director – Finance, Apollo Hospitals, said the funding for the first phase, which is to be fully set up by Apollo Group, is available with Rs 560 crore through equity, Rs 150 crore of internal accruals and the balance to come through debt which would be needed in 2010-11.

Dr Reddy said if there was a constraint, it was not funds but human resources – doctors and paramedical staff. That was the reason the first phase was limited to 25 hospitals and not more. Each Apollo Reach with a staff of 600 will also have facilities to act as a training ground to get skilled staff for subsequent expansion. Apollo Reach will offer the standard of care delivery on par with the rest of the group hospitals.

Other projects

Also in the pipeline, is a medical college which would involve an investment of over Rs 110 crore with a capacity take in 100 students initially. The Apollo Group is looking at four locations – Chittoor, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Madurai – and is likely to take a decision in about a year. Talks are on with international universities, he said.

Another major project is the health knowledge city planned in Chittoor which would include a hospital and training facilities for the entire spectrum of medical and paramedical services, he said.

According to Apollo Group officials, the entire chain of 250 hospitals under Apollo Reach would come up in seven years, with the second and third phase in public-private partnership. The group is in talks with State Governments to offer space in the Government and public sector unit hospitals where Apollo Reach would set up and manage the facilities. Apollo Group is looking for a lease agreement with revenue sharing.

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