Apollo Hospitals has fine tuned its international expansion plan. It has decided not to spare its financial resources as it expands its footprint abroad.

“We will keep all the financial resources for our growth plans in India. We will utilise our expertise (in healthcare and management of hospitals) while we go abroad,” Prathap C. Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, has said.

As part of this strategy, the group is setting up 10 telemedicine clinics in Africa and the Gulf. “They will come up in countries like Ghana, Nigeria and Oman,” he said.

Addressing reporters on the sidelines on the two-day international conference on ‘Transforming healthcare with information technology’ here on Friday, he said the group could get a second location in Bangladesh to establish a hospital. (It already has set up one at Chittagong).

Asked about the Sri Lankan project, he said the Government there wanted to run the hospital.

Apollo Health Street

With regard to divesting stake in its healthcare BPO Apollo Health Street, the company was not in a hurry to get some investors. “We do not want immediate funds. We want to bring in a strategic investor who is operating in the area. We hope to finalise a partner in the next few weeks,” he said.

Generics business

Sangita Reddy, Executive Director, said the company was in the process of growing private label generic pharmaceutical business. “We have already developed about 20 drugs. We will be expanding this basket,” she said.

She said there was need for standardisation of jargon used in prescriptions and procedures. “This will help in populating electronic health records,” she added.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in

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