Apollo Hospitals is one of the most famous of chain based hospitals in India. It was founded by Pratap C.  Reddy in 1983. It is the largest health care provider in Asia and third largest in the world. It has hospitals in India, Srilanka, Bangladesh and has presence in gulf as well. This group has headquarters in Chennai. It has a revenue of around 9.56 billion Rupees employing over 10,000 individuals.

How Apollo Hospitals was started.

Apollo Managing Director

Doctor Reddy worked at the Missourie State Chest hospital where he was the head of several research programs. He had training in cardiology with international experience. 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. Because of that people in India are being given treatments which are at par with the best in the world.

Initially there were a lot of constraints, but that din’t stop Mr. Reddy from pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams. In 1983 he set up the first centre in Chennai and then it was followed by the setting up of India’s first hospital consultancy body, The Indian Hospital Corporation. He then comissioned two more teriary care centres in India. This setup a trend for other corporate health cares in India. From then onwards it was an upswing for the Apollo Group. It presently has over 22 centres in major metropolis in India and has a combined turn over of 100 Million Dollars.

Apollo Hospitals proved that Indian doctors are no less than the best in the world by successfully operating on a complicated cadaver transplant. Having successfully steered Apollo hospitals in a number of locations through out India, Dr Reddy went on to expand operation through out Asia. His first clinic outside India was in Dubai, March !999. He currently has projects in Srilanka, Africa and Bangladesh.

His more recent initiative is to create a virtual apollo centre, which is available anywhere, at any time. This is a web based Apollo initiative, ” Med Varsity “  and  ” MedNet ” He successfully implemented Telemedicine Technology in India, which will be a key enabler in transforming health care delivery in India.

Dr. Reddy has many more dreams like setting up rural hospitals. He recognized 23 sites in the semi urban areas. His native village is Aragonda and he started a clinic there to serve as a model for similar such projects for the Apollo group to emulate through out India.

Apart from these hospital work, he encourages research work and facilitates exchange programmes for doctors with other medical institutes so that they may have a constant upgrade of knowledge and remain at par with the best in technology and knowledge across the world.

  • The government of India awarded him the prestigious Padma Bushan award in Feb, 1991.
  • He was awarded Sir Neel Ratan Sarkar award for medical excellence in June 1998.
  • He was also nominated by Business India as one of the top 50 business personalities who made a difference in the country from the past 50 years since independence.


Lets hope that Dr. Reddy will be successful in all his endeavors and make India a safe and better place!

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