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Apollo Hospitals will absorb an up to 2 per cent increase in hospital costs due to GST, and anything above that will be passed on to patients, Chairman Prathap Reddy said on Tuesday.
“Healthcare as such is not taxed. But there are other services and some products that are taxed at 15 or 18 per cent. We believe our additional cost would be around 2 per cent and we can absorb it,” Reddy told media persons here. “But if it is 4 or 5 per cent, then patients may have to bear it.”
He further said the impact of demonetisation has worn off, with May revenues getting back to normal levels. Demonetisation had made a major dent in the revenues of the Chennai-headquartered hospital chain in the third and fourth quarters of FY17.
Apollo, which runs about 60 hospitals and 200 clinics across the country, is expected to grow at 20 per cent over the next few years, Reddy said. The chain also plans to double the number of cancer hospitals from the current seven.
When asked about the sorry state of mental healthcare in the country, Reddy said it is very unfortunate that not many Indian medical students come forward to specialise in psychiatry. “Not even 0.5 per cent of our medical students are opting for psychiatry as speciality,” he said.
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