Apollo to increase bedcount to 9,000 by 2017

Apollo hospitals have planned to invest close to Rs 600 crore to raise its bedcount across India to 9,000 by the end of FY’17.

The leading hospital group is also planning to start an advanced cardiac care facility in Ahmedabad with an investment of around Rs 60 crore.

Elaborating on the same, Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group said, "While we are close to starting a complete heart hospital in the city in joint venture with Cardio Vascular Heart Foundation, we are also considering 10 more locations across India where we could have similar facilities."

The 70-100 bed facility coming up at Ahmedabad would be equipped with the latest technology, like the 320-slice CT machine, which Apollo claimed was the first in Gujarat.

This is Apollo's effort to move closer to the patients as its hospital is located at the outskirts of Ahmedabad closer to Gandhinagar and patients from the city find it difficult to access during emergencies. Apollo has invested close to Rs 400 crore in its Gandhinagar facility so far.

"States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Delhi have such central bodies which are run with the help of the state governments that help in distribution of the organs collected from donors. Such a centralized database boosts organ transplantation programmes," noted Reddy.

The Group is also in process of increasing the bedcount directly under Apollo to 9,000 by the end of this fiscal that would entail an investment of Rs 600 crore.

"We are planning to raise the bedcount to 9000 this fiscal, and an investment of Rs 600 crore is earmarked for the same," informed K Hari Prasad, president, Hospitals division, Apollo Hospitals. Its Navi Mumbai facility, a 500-bed tertiary care hospital is almost ready.

Apollo conducts 40,000 heart surgeries every year and over 70,000 angioplasties. Reddy further added that till date there have been no heart transplants in Gujarat done by Apollo. There was a need to have a central organ doners' body that would monitor the distribution of organs received from donors to member hospitals etc.