At the age of 50, when his contemporaries were getting set for, retirement, renowned cardiologist, entrepreneur and founder, Apollo Group of Hospitals, India, Dr. Prathap Chandra Reddy, was already revolutionising the healthcare industry in his country. His singular goal was to prevent unneccessary death from preventable and treatable diseases.

Widely acknowleged for his exploits and the main player behind the business model that fostered the emergence of the healthcare sector in India, today.

Reddy’s vision, acumen and ideal of uncompromised quality motivated numerous individuals in India and across the world to emulate the model and take care closer to their patients.

His pioneering success in telemedicine and innovative insurance in Aragonda, the world’s first V-SAT enabled village in remote Seemandhra, India and others, validates the concept of ‘Healthcare for All’

In an encounter, Reddy tells Chioma Obinna of his role in the revolution of India’s healthcare and development of world- class healthcare within the economic and geographic reach of millions worldwide.Excerpts:

Healthcare revolution

I have been blessed with the love and respect that the people of India have given me. The person I have to thank the most for being a vital beacon in my life is my father. We were very happy and settled abroad, when a letter from him changed my life.

He told me that while they were extremely proud of my success in the USA, it was time to think about my responsibility to my motherland. It was time to use my experience and clinical skills to help my fellow Indians.

That was the genesis of the dream. I returned to India, and most immediately felt the dire need for a world-class hospital. We started Apollo Hospitals with the simple mission to ensure top quality healthcare came to India, rather than Indians having to travel to distant corners of the world to get it.

Thanks to my tireless team, today we have touched the lives of over 45 million patients. Others have been inspired too; India now has over 750 corporate hospitals. Today people from across the globe travel to India to get treated.

Having received my pre-medical degree from the prestigious Madras Christian College and medical degree from Stanley Medical College, Chennai, I trained as a cardiologist in the UK and later USA. After receiving my Fellowship from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA, I went on to head research programmes at the Missouri State Chest Hospital USA whereby I worked for several years before returning to India in 1978. With this back ground, Apollo Hospital opened in Chennai in 1983 amidst much scepticism.

I did what I had to do

India, in the early 80’s was not the easiest place for private enterprise. The best of intentions could get lost in the quagmire of licensing and bureaucracy. The concept of private healthcare was completely alien.

Back in the 1980s healthcare institutions other than small physician-owned nursing homes were unknown and they were not doing cutting edge work. Thankfully a few pioneering leaders grasped the vision we had for Indian healthcare, and helped facilitate matters. Thirty two years later, Apollo Hospitals has become one of the world’s largest providers of high-technology healthcare. With speciality in the areas of heart, liver and solid organ transplants, and also in knee and hip replacement surgery and robotic surgery, Apollo is an industry pioneer and a world leader.

Heroic roles in healthcare

Beyond this, at age 50, Reddy was involved in revolutionising healthcare, the visionary, he has harnessed in technology and insurance has brought healthcare to the masses. The pioneering success of telemedicine and innovative insurance in Aragonda, the world’s first V-SAT enabled village in remote Seemandhra validates the concept of ‘Healthcare for All’.

The huge gap in quality healthcare in our country was painfully obvious. This idea became an imperative for me when I lost a patient who could not make it to Texas for an open heart surgery.

I can still recall the devastated faces of his wife and young children. It was then I decided that the situation had become completely unacceptable, and something had to be done immediately so that more people don’t die just because they couldn’t afford expensive foreign treatment.

I aspired to create world-class medical infrastructure in India and make it more accessible and affordable to common people. These efforts bore fruit when we succeeded in setting up the first centre of the Apollo Hospitals Group in Chennai in 1983.

A dream to heal

My dream was always to heal, and I knew that books would be my path to achieving that. I was a serious student and the first person from my village to leave for a higher education. I have to thank my family for their broad mindedness, and their total support for me to nurture my dreams.

My early years in Aragonda instilled in me the belief that wonderful things can happen if you don’t let go of your dreams. This lesson has been invaluable in every stage of my life since then.

As a group we have been part of various activities, the Apollo group has undertaken philanthropic work through ‘Save a Child’s Heart Initiative’ (SACHI), the CURE Foundation for cancer care, the Indian Head Injury Foundation (IHIF), ‘Distance Healthcare Advancement’ (DISHA) and many others that have touched the lives of several thousands of children, differently-abled people, cancer and brain trauma patients.

Perspective towards preventive healthcare

Each generation presents its unique healthcare challenges. This generation is plagued with the menace of Non Communicable Diseases, NCDS. The incidence of diabetes, cancer, hypertension and cardiac ailments are causing havoc to national health and economic wellbeing. In this situation the role of preventive healthcare is critical.

“It is our mission to continuously evolve preventive healthcare services. The latest development in this front is our personalised preventive health check. In a personalised check factors like a person’s genetic make-up, lifestyle, and family medical history are important parameters during the testing and diagnostic stages.