At 93, Apollo founder still has big dreams for Indian healthcare

CHENNAI: Apollo Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy, who turns 93 on Thursday, cuts a commanding figure — the tall cardiologist who walked away from a thriving US practice after his father’s plea to “help people in India.” A 1979 tragedy sealed it: a 35-year-old patient died, treatment abroad unaffordable. Seeing the widow and children, he asked, “If Indian doctors save lives in the US, why not here at home?”

Dr Reddy, who turns 93 Thursday, lobbied PM Indira Gandhi to ensure import duties on equipment fell from 300% to zero. Banks funded the build; cement and steel came cheap, and he built Apollo Chennai, India’s first multispecialty hospital, in 1983 with a promise to offer treatment to 25% of patients free.

Dr Reddy’s zeal reshaped more than medicine. Hours before Apollo’s launch, he axed a glaring “Casualty” sign: “Why would trauma patients want to be wheeled into ‘casualties’ rooms? My staff thought people wouldn’t recognise any other word. But I insisted on changing it to ‘Emergency’. It’s now standard nationwide,” he said.

He recalled how four decades on, his 4Cs mantra — clinical excellence, compassionate care, cost-effectiveness, cutting-edge technology — powers a 10,000-bed empire rivalling reputable international hospitals in cardiac procedures, organ transplants, and outcomes at a fraction of developed nations’ costs. While Southeast Asia’s first proton therapy centre hums in Chennai; Mumbai and Delhi will get next-gen upgrades, he said.

His dream now is to put India on the global healthcare map. If India allows visa-on-arrival at least for friendly nations, it will double patient inflows overnight across 400 hospitals, including Apollo, spurring jobs and retaining skilled resources, including doctors and nurses. Simultaneously, India must ensure its people are healthy. Periodic health checks and health risk evaluation using AI models and genetic tests must be encouraged. “People must not assume they are healthy; they must be told they are healthy,” he said.

He agrees this will not be easy without reforms in health insurance. Dr Reddy practises what he preaches. “Like any other Indian, I have all the health risks – I have been diabetic for nearly 50 years, I have hypertension, high cholesterol and I was overweight,” he said. Fifteen years ago, he suffered a heart attack.

“But preventive health checks, early diagnosis and treatment, diet and regular exercises have kept me going. I still do 20 minutes’ walk every day with at least seven minutes of brisk walking. I have lost at least 15 kg from nearly 105 kg. My blood pressure and sugar levels are under control. Indians have the genetic predisposition for some non-communicable diseases, but they can all be brought under control with lifestyle and medications,” he said.
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