The Apollo Hospitals Group is planning to add 500-600 Apollo pharmacy stores over a period of time. The company currently has 1,300 such stores, which together contribute 50 per cent to its topline, Prathap C Reddy, chairman of the group, said at the international congress here.
The hospital chain would add five Apollo Reach, its affordable hospital for the middle-class, by this year. “The model is working well and so far 500 beds have been commissioned for the Apollo Reach,” Preetha Reddy, executive chairman, said.
By 2013, the group would add five nursing colleges to its existing 15, set up 10 new hospitals in 10 different locations and add 2,000 beds to the current 10,000 beds. Its proposed hospitals at Hyderabad and New Delhi airport would come up by early next year, she added.
Reddy said the occupancy rate at its hospitals was around 80 per cent. “We are aggressively building our hospitals but the huge manpower crunch in the healthcare industry is the major hindrance,” she said.
Apollo proposes to invest Rs 1,800 crore for its expansion plan. Of this Rs 800 crore immediate investment would come from internal accurals.
