Apollo plans to add 130 more franchisee clinics

Healthcare major to open 30 such clinics abroad

The Rs 500-crore Apollo Group of Hospitals is planning to add 100 more franchisee clinics in India and also set up 30 such clinics abroad in the next two years. The hospital group will also expand its total bed-capacity from about 6,400 beds to 7,100 beds in the next twelve months.

Speaking to Business Standard, Sangeeta Reddy, director (operations) of Apollo Hospitals, said that at present Apollo has 28 franchisee clinics operational in India. Each clinic in India involves an investment of between Rs 1.75 and Rs 1.85 crore.

"In Andhra Pradesh, we plan to add about two franchisee clinics within a year. Overseas, the franchisee clinics will be set up in the Middle East, Sri Lanka and the Far East," she added.

The franchisee clinics are day-to-day healthcare centres and besides consultation and diagnostic services will also provide a 24-hour pharmacy centre, Reddy said.

The move to expand the Apollo brand overseas is part of the move of the corporate hospital to consciously position itself as an emerging multinational in the healthcare segment from India. Apollo already enjoys considerable mindshare in the island nation of Sri Lanka where it has opened a full-fledged multi-speciality hospital.

The group expects not only to grow organically in increasing bed capacity but also by bringing more private hospitals in the country under its own management. Apollo has over the last few years, in a strategic move, gone in for tie-ups with private hospitals across the country and is helping these hospitals manage their day-to-day operations.

Apollo has also under its quality initiative process undertaken implementation of Six Sigma to streamline and standardise existing systems across the group.

"We have inducted two people from General Electric and the implementation has already taken place in nine processes in the last eight months. The work on about 37 processes is still going on and by 2006 we hope to complete the entire implementation process," Reddy said.

Six Sigma helps in eliminating defects so that organisations can have a highly disciplined approach to decision making. "It will help the hospital to enhance the efficiencies of its processes and will therefore make our services more patient-centric," Reddy said.

The group has invested about Rs 8 crore in the total quality initiative process.

The group is also setting up a Rs 30-crore PET-CT scanning device in January next year. It will be set up at the Hyderabad centre and will be the first of its kind in Asia.

A combination of PET (positron emission tomography) and CT, the new device will help in cancer diagnosis at a micro level, Reddy said.

Strategic moves

• Apollo positioning itself as an emerging multinational in the healthcare segment from India
• To set up franchisee clinics in Middle East, Sri Lanka & the Far East
• The group plans to expand total bed-capacity from around 6,400 beds to 7,100 beds in next twelve months
• It has undertaken implementation of Six Sigma to streamline and standardise existing systems across the group
• The group expects to bring more private hospitals in the country under its own management