In the midst of a ₹2,170-crore expansion plan charted out last fiscal, Apollo Hospitals is having its top executives do slightly different things to push ahead. Preetha Reddy, who as Managing Director held sway over the hospitals’ daily operations, will pass on the baton to her younger sister Suneeta Reddy. Preetha says transitions would allow the siblings to focus on new frontiers in a changing healthcare scene.

What is your focus area now?

Clinicians. We have 8,000 of them and we need more. We have noticed a large gap. Tomorrow’s healthcare will be driven by quality of services. If you take the West, say Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Stanford Hospital, the medical work done has been paramount to their success. And it needs one person to really focus on that. That’s what my role will be.

How will the role of the other top executives change?

Suneeta will take over the task of running the day-to-day operations of the hospitals. She is already handling finance and strategies. Now, the hospitals division will work under a single line of command. Operationally, Sangita’s contribution is important, too, because the biggest challenge in India is the lack of manpower. Unless we focus on training and skill development, we will not be able to rise up to that level of operational efficiency. And, we are looking for a strategic partner for our pharmacy retailing, so Shobana Kamineni’s role is also critical.

There was word of a succession plan and even a ‘family constitution’ and now the third-generation has stepped in. Any progress on that?

Right now, the structure is perfect. When the time comes for succession, we will decide among ourselves.

The underlying message of this whole exercise is that all four (sisters) are equal, and we are reporting to the Chairman. It’s an equalising strategy. We have taken a lot of inputs from large corporates, and three consulting firms. As for the family constitution, it’s still work in progress.

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