BP Clinics is an initiative aimed at combating the menace of high BP in the country, with focus on reducing or delaying incidence of blood pressure and minimising the incidence of complications in those who are already hypertensive, Sangita Reddy, executive director of Apollo Hospitals Group, said in a release.
“Around Rs 10 crore will be invested in setting up these clinics in the initial phase, and these will be expanded further after reviewing the outcomes,” she said, adding initially, the group would be launching these clinics at Apollo Jubilee Hills and Hyderguda here, followed by Apollo Secunderabad.
More From This Section
These will have a structure comprising advanced BP Clinics located at Apollo's hospitals and serve as hubs besides having a series of BP Clinics, Express BP Clinics and homecare services. These clinics will have advanced diagnostics infrastructure like periscopes, which can monitor central blood pressure and check elasticity of blood vessels, and devices for 24 hours BP monitoring.
Speaking on the occasion, BP specialist Venkata S Ram said only 50 per cent of the patients with hypertension were aware that they had high BP and among them only 50 per cent were on treatment and only 50 per cent of these had BP under control.
“Around 90 million people in our country suffer from hypertension and approximately $24 billion is incurred annually to take care of high BP patients in India. It is estimated that around one in every three urbanites and one in four rural people are afflicted by hypertension in the country,” he added.