May 23: Apollo Hospitals, India’s largest healthcare company, would soon chalk out its overseas expansion strategy even as it gets ready for a higher growth trajectory in India. “We will call for an overseas strategy meet sometime in July or August,” Dr Prathap C. Reddy, the chairman of Apollo Hospitals, told this newspaper. Explaining further, Dr Reddy said, “The first strategy would be to see how much more we can do to develop healthcare overseas. Second, will be what we can do to encourage foreign tourists to come into India.”
The chairman said the hospital chain would “look at wherever there is an opportunity. But first, the thrust would be on India.” Dr Reddy said the company would also enter into an agreement with the government of Tanzania to manage a superspeciality hospital in the African country. The deal would be signed on May 27 in the presence of the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, who is on a six-day tour to Africa.
Apollo has been attracting a large number of Tanzanians for treatment at its New Delhi-based hospital.
The healthcare major also has plans to ramp up its total number of beds. “At present we have about 9,000 beds and we have plans to add 3,000 beds in the next two years at the cost of Rs 1,400 to Rs 1,500 crore,” Dr Reddy said. In the fiscal 2015 and 2016, the chairman says the company would like to add 5,000 beds, taking the total number of the beds to 17,000.