Dr.
Prathap C Reddy, Chairman
Apollo Hospitals Group
His dream is to make India the Healthcare Destination of the World.
Two decades ago, Dr. Reddy lost a patient who couldn't make it to Texas for an open heart
surgery. This was the milestone in the Indian Healthcare Industry. Today people have the
opportunity in India to receive the best that healthcare has to offer worldwide.
Driven by a deep urge to create world-class medical infrastructure in India and make it more
accessible and affordable to a large cross section of our people, Dr. Prathap Reddy opted to
give up his successful practice in the US to return to India in the early eighties.
Thus, Dr. Reddy began what was truly the process of revolutionizing the path of the Indian
Healthcare Industry. Undeterred by initial constraints Dr. Reddy succeeded in setting up the
first center of the Apollo Hospitals Group in Chennai in 1983.
This was soon followed by India's first hospital consultancy body - the Indian Hospitals
Corporation - and the commissioning of two more Tertiary Care Centers in India. Not only
did he set a precedent for corporate healthcare in the country, but the Government of India
soon recognized his enterprising efforts leading to
» Financial institutions amending their funding legislation to include hospitals
» Board basing the scope of medical insurance.
On an upswing since then, today the Apollo Hospitals Group has over 22 centers in major
metropolises in India with a combined turnover of over US $ 100 million.
Apollo over the last decade, has demonstrated that Indian skills are equivalent to the best
centers in the world and has produced world-class results in the most complicated Cadaver
Transplant.
Having steered the Apollo Hospitals Group to a number of locations within India, Dr. Reddy
embarked on an Asian expansion plan with the first clinic in Dubai established in March
1999. Now, projects in Sri Lanka, Africa, Bangladesh and Oman are on the anvil.
His newest initiative is to integrate into healthcare, the digital nervous system that will
eventually create a virtual Apollo Center anywhere any time. Apollo's major Web initiative,
Med Varsity -a virtual medical university providing total access to experts in the field of
medicine anywhere in the world and "MEDNET" - Hospital Systems Management package
are slated to transform the way medicine is practiced in the country.
His plans for improved accessible and affordable healthcare for the millions of our people are
an ongoing process and to bring country-wide, comprehensive health insurance scheme to our
people is now his obsession.
The telemedicine technology that has been successfully introduced by Dr. Reddy in India will
be a key enabler in transforming the healthcare delivery in India. His blueprint for the nation
includes setting up of many rural hospitals. Dr. Reddy is now looking at secondary health
centers in semi urban and smaller cities and has already identified 23 sites for the same. The
maiden effort in this venture has been at Aragonda, his native village and Dr. Reddy
envisages that this center will serve as a model for all such projects of the Apollo Group in
rural India.
Dr. Reddy has been a keen promoter of active research and exchange programmes for
Doctors at Apollo with leading medical institutions for providing excellent opportunities for
clinical interaction with their counterparts abroad and also for constant update of their
knowledge for the optimum benefit of the mankind.
Recognizing his pioneering role in transforming the Indian healthcare industry, the
Government of India awarded him the prestigious Padma Bhushan in February 1991. He was
also presented with the Sir Neel Ratan Sarkar Award for medical excellence in June 1998.
Nominated by Business India as one of the Top Fifty personalities, who have made a
difference to the country in the fifty years since Independence, the country has certainly
recognized his contributions. The Royal college of Surgeons of Edinburgh has conferred the
Award of fellowship Ad hominem.
Dr. Reddy's firmly believes that the Indian doctors have not got their true entitlement. He is
convinced that India is not only well poised to meet the healthcare challenges of the
millennium, but also equipped with the talent and strength to contribute in further developing
the health and economy of the world.
Dr. Pratap Reddy is the founder of the Apollo Hospital Group, India's first corporate hospital group.
He revolutionized the whole health care scenario of India and inspired others to follow the suit.
Today, India has over 750 corporate hospitals all over the country.
Dr. Pratap Reddy came to India after serving as the Chief Resident of the Worcenter City Hospital in
the US to start his practice in Madras with a modest earning of Rs 100/- per day. The idea to
establish Apollo Group of Hospitals came when Dr. Reddy lost a patient who couldn't make it to
Texas for an open heart surgery. This inspired Dr. Pratap Reddy to create world-class medical
infrastructure in India and make it more accessible and affordable to common people. Dr. Reddy's
efforts bore fruit when he succeeded in setting up the first center of the Apollo Hospitals Group in
Chennai in 1983.
Dr, Pratap Reddy soon followed this with India 's first hospital consultancy body - the Indian
Hospitals Corporation - and commissioned two more Tertiary Care Centers in India. Since its
inception, Apollo has demonstrated that Indian skills are equivalent to the best centers in the world
and has produced world-class results in the most complicated Cadaver Transplant. Today, the Apollo
Hospitals Group has over 22 centers in major cities in India and a combined turnover of over US $
100 million.
Dr Reddy is now spreading Apollo Hospitals Group to other parts of Asia. The group opened its first
clinic in Dubai in March 1999 and is coming up with projects in Sri Lanka, Africa, Bangladesh, and
Oman. Dr. Reddy is currently looking at secondary health centers in semi urban and smaller cities
and has already identified 23 sites for the purpose.
Dr. Pratap Reddy's latest initiatives are "Med Varsity"-a virtual medical university providing total
access to experts in the field of medicine anywhere in the world- and "MEDNET" - Hospital Systems
Management package. Both the initiatives are expected to transform health care sector in India.
