Archives

The founder and Chairman of the internationally renowned Apollo Hospitals, India intends to make Apollo Hospital, Colombo the regional centre of health care.

Dr. Prathap C. Reddy in an interview with the Daily News said that the Apollo's first international hospital to be opened on June 7 in Colombo will also cater to the health needs of patients from countries such as Mauritius, Maldives, and Indonesia.

"Our hospital will not only make life easier for Sri Lankans but also earn the country valuable foreign exchange. The number one advantage for the patients overseas is, its easy access. It will also save them a lot of money," he said.

It will be at least five times less costly for patients from Mauritius to come here than going to South Africa. It would be the same for the Indonesians going to Singapore. Earlier in India people had to go to other countries for surgery but today about 10 percent of the patients coming to our hospitals are from other countries. I expect the same thing to happen when we open our hospital in Colombo," Dr. Reddy said.

Apollo Hospital Colombo will immensely benefit Sri Lankans who had to spend colossal amounts of money to go abroad for treatment.

"The demand supply gap in healthcare is enormous. I decided to build a hospital in Sri Lanka because I have seen that at any given time there are nearly 70 to 100 Sri Lankan patients in Madras for serious surgery. But the money that is required is not just for the hospital. They have to spend about Rs. 200,000 as hospital bills. They also have to spend about the same amount of money on travel and accommodation.

Apollo Madras started in 1983. Then I met an old man who needed heart surgery. He did not have US$ 30,000 to go to America and have the surgery done. When I saw his wife and his two children, I was determined not to let such tragedy befall on another person. I thought of making the maximum use of Indian doctors who were doing excellent service overseas. I am neither a rich man nor a business tycoon but, I thought of doing the best to satisfy my desire of caring for our people," Dr. Reddy said.

Today, we have 21 hospitals and the Colombo one will be the 22nd. In all the hospitals the mission statement is the same. It is to bring international healthcare to various cross sections of our people. When we started the first hospital everything was difficult. But today the hospital in Madras which was started with 150 beds has become one with 1,000 beds, he said.

He said setting up of the Hospital in Colombo would mean a true reversal of the brain drain as Sri Lankan doctors abroad are already excited of the prospect in coming back home.

"The major problem we faced at the beginning was finding doctors. There are brilliant Sri Lankan doctors overseas. But they are mentally not quite ready to come back to Sri Lanka. But now, almost every day there are calls from the doctors who want to come back. Our initiative has made the true reversal of brain drain. At the beginning in Apollo Colombo there will be a composition of doctors from Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan doctors from overseas and top doctors from India.

But when it comes to nurses it is a bit more difficult. Sri Lanka today hasn't enough nurses. It will take some time for us to bring the Sri Lankan nurses into the mainstream. So we got permission to get about 300 nurses to start the hospital.

Technology is the other most important factor. Bringing today's technology is a bit expensive. We have brought 2002 technology here from the simple X-ray to the top MRI and in the Intensive Care Unit and in all operating theatres and every single place this modern technology is used. We have one of the most sophisticated hospital information systems. It would be better than what is there in India," Dr. Reddy said.

He said the hospital will be expanded in the future to cater to a large number of patients.

We are only starting with 350 beds but will become a 550 beds hospital later. We initially invested about Rs. 1.2 billion on the Hospital and it has now become a Rs. 2.7 billion project. We have all the infrastructure and the latest technology. Above all our ground rules are very strict and the entire focus is on the patient. Our services may not be cheap but it will be a reasonable cost. Our concept will be tender, love and care for the patients," Dr. Reddy said.

He said his vision is to make Apollo hospitals the world leaders in health care and make India the health care destination of the world.

We are providing world class facilities. We will increase the number of overseas hospitals. The next will be Dubai. There will be two more hospitals built in Bangladesh and Tasmania later.

Because of the strategic location the hospital in Sri Lanka will be the regional centre. This is why I want the Government to look into it as an international hospital facility and use this as a tool to boost the economy. It will provide direct employment to at least 3,000 people and the same number indirectly.

The second thing I want is the attention of the Government to the fact that there is a tremendous lack of nurses in the Western world. In the US alone they want about 250,000 nurses. England needs about 45,000 nurses. In Philippines every province is sending 1,000 nurses to those countries. Why not Sri Lanka develop the nursing sector? What they need is a good nursing school of international standards and a place to have a good background training.

We will also have satellite connectivity for tele-medicine. The doctors can have exchange programs. The patients can have secondary benefits. In the country we will establish connectivity so that patients from other regions can reach the hospital and get medical advice.

We are doing much to bring the power of IT in health. IT is powerful and when it comes to health it will become the power of life," Dr. Reddy said.

He said the concept of medical insurance should be promoted in Sri Lanka.

Even the most advanced countries find it difficult to meet the health care expenses of their people. In the United States 72 percent of the patients are insured. So there is no burden on the Government. About 18 to 20 percent of the patients pay for the social security. Only about nine to 10 percent do not pay for social security and they are the only burden of their Government.

It is not easy to pay Rs. 300,000 for heart surgery for most Sri Lankans. But if we are paying a premium for a health insurance it is only Rs. 300 a month. When you fall sick the insurance is there for you," Dr. Reddy said. 

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager