Apollo Hospitals looks East

With over 50 per cent of international patients to India coming to Apollo Hospitals, the group senses a huge opportunity in this segment.

The company is planning a big thrust to international patient care, with special focus on Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar.

Of the 100,000 international patients who came to India last year, 54,000 came to Apollo (outpatients and inpatients), said Dr Prathap Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals. “We want to double the number in two years with special focus on Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos,” said Dr Reddy, on the sidelines of the company's 30th annual general meeting.

Apollo will invest Rs 1,600 crore by 2013-14 on expansion plans. Ten hospitals will come up by 2013-14, with the addition of around 2,400 beds, in cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore. Around 14 robot therapy machines will be brought in to perform surgeries with “greater precision and less trauma.”

Apollo also plans to set up a 100-acre health city in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. It will house a training centre and a 300-bed hospital. “Land acquisition is going on; we may be investing Rs 50 crore on the health city,” said Dr Reddy, who also hopes to set up undergraduate colleges for medical education in Chennai and Hyderabad.

The company recently raised Rs 330 crore via qualified institutional placement. “The who's-who of the investment world participated in it — from the UK, the US, Singapore and Hong Kong,” said Dr Reddy. Fidelity and Sundaram were also investors.

On plans to hive off the pharmacy business, Dr Reddy said the Apollo Pharmacy chain, with 1,200 outlets, had just turned EBITDA positive. “The chain should get to at least 1,500 outlets for hiving it off.”