Apollo Group of Hospitals aims to come up with a hospital in Nigeria in Africa in the next two years, while it is eying opportunities in other countries in the continent.
"While detailed plans are yet to be firmed up, we are looking to tie-up with a local partner to set up a hospital in the country. The investment could be made by the partner while Apollo could offer managerial expertise", said Praful Pawar, chief executive officer of Apollo Hospitals. Pawar could not give out further details on investment and capacity of the planned hospital. The Nigerian government had approached the Group to modernise the healthcare infrastructure in the country.
Apollo has just entered into a partnership to provide operational management services to Lagos-based Hygeia Nigeria, one of the largest health-care groups in west Africa. Hygeia Nigeria also owns the largest health maintenance organisation (HMO) in Nigeria with over 200 hospitals and clinics in the network. Apollo has also bagged a project consultant job for a 100-bed multi-speciality hospital in Ghana.
Talks are on with countries like Tanzania, Uganda, Malta and Libya, said an official of Apollo group. The The Group did not want to give out details of investment or the size of the facility saying that things are still in very prelimenary stages. It is already involved in the Pan-Africa Telemedicine Programme that covered 52 countries and now is looking at expanding its operations in the continent.
Meanwhile, it has plans to come up with 20 spcialised Knee Clinics across 12 locations in India and also in five overseas locations like Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Yeman and Kuwait, in the next couple of weeks. It inaugurated its fifth clinic in the country today in Ahmedabad after Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi and Kolkata.
Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Prathap C Reddy said, ''The Knee Clinic would provide a 360-degree approach to patients, right from prevention to treatment and rehabilitation. The clinic would function on a protocol-driven approch ensuring prevention and early diagnosis, followed by effective treatment through a complete disease management programme.
Last year there was a total of 37,000 knee surgeries in the country. According to a WHO report in 2020 India would have eight million people suffering from knee related problems.
