Apollo Hospitals to set up 100 chest pain clinics

Sets up Appollo Centre of Excellence for Women in Chennai

Apollo Hospitals plans to set up 100 chest pain clinics to cater to the specific healthcare needs of women across the country.

Addressing a press conference after the inauguration of Apollo Centre of Excellence for Women (ACE), an integrated women's healthcare centre, Prathap Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said that Apollo Hospitals decided to set up chest pain clinic across the country. ACE will house the first clinic, which will function for 24 hrs. This would have an ambulance facility, he added.

Its existing 'Apollo Clinics' will also double up as chest pain clinics. It has set up about 30 Apollo Clinics, which are into addressing day-to-day healthcare needs, across the country.

These initiatives come as a natural extension to Apollo's capability of providing pioneering medical care and solutions, a press release said.

He said that ACE would try to do everything that was needed for women's healthcare.

"The Centre of Excellence for Women has been established to cater to various age groups of women and we will have the total scanning and detection procedures for all disorders of women," he added.

Preetha Reddy, managing director, Apollo Hospitals, said that the centre was first of its kind in the country and would help women become more conscious about their health.

The centre would address symptomatic medical problems as well as established medical ailments that occur through the prenatal to menupausal and geriatric phase. About 45 consultants, specialists in various ailments, will be providing medical care in the centre, which is connected online with the other Apollo hospitals.

The centre was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa today. Spread over 14,000 sq ft, across four floors, ACE, is equipped with lab and equipment relevant to mammography, bone densitometry, ultrasound, echo-cardiography and hi-end dixa scan.

Initially, the centre would function as an out-patient centre and offer outpatient services in cardiology, minimally invasive procedures, neurology, spine and joint replacements and cosmetic reconstructive surgery. The centre will have women consultants across specialities including internal medicine, geriatrics and infectious diseases, pediatrics, gynaecology, breat diseases and adolescent medicine, among others.

The thrust will be on early detection of diseases, and ailments like anemia, breast and cervical cancer, heart disease, glaucoma, migraine, depression, breast disorders will receive special attention. Specialised preventive health screening programmes will be conducted to identify and provide treatment for specicific ailments like cancer, obesity, diabetes and cardiac checks for women.

Prathap Reddy said that the centre will have a separate section for skin and cosmetology and will soon roll out lot of cosmetic programmes. "Healthcare is a $3 trillion industry, closely followed by the wellness and beauty, 50 per cent of which goes into beauty shops," he added.

Senior Cardiologist K P Misra, Apollo Hospitals will be conducting two hour educational session for women every wednesday at the Centre.