The collaboration will leverage a Medtronic-developed technology platform, supported by clinical insight from Apollo. Both organizations envision an affordable and accessible health care delivery system that addresses the critical need for dialysis solutions in India. Both companies do not expect the collaboration to materially impact their earnings in the respective company’s fiscal year. Specifically, the collaboration seeks improved accessibility, outcomes, affordability, operational ease, and environmental protection while providing hemodialysis services to ESRD patients requiring RRT. Medtronic intends to develop and manufacture key components of this system in India, with an investment of more than 150 crore rupees (US$25 million). For the first time, Medtronic is establishing an India R&D team that will focus on design, development and manufacturing of key components of the system in India. The commercial launch of the product is slated for 2016. Dr. Prathap C Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals said, “Our partnership with Medtronic will help in fulfilling our vision of delivering better clinical outcomes through bench-to-bedside innovation. This alliance reinforces Apollo’s commitment to research-driven healthcare. We are undertaking this landmark initiative to explore opportunities in dialysis solutions to address a critical need with the right, yet affordable treatment as part of our legacy of providing clinical excellence. This collaboration is a further symbol of Apollo’s commitment to having a share in everyone’s good health by touching lives.” “Medtronic is committed to creating technologies that can reduce barriers to treatment, enhance and extend the lives of patients around the world, and reduce healthcare costs. In the case of hemodialysis, both the cost and lack of mobility of current systems have made broader access to dialysis treatment difficult and expensive. Our goal is to build a unique, internally developed system that will be portable, will lower costs, and will be more efficient in its use of water and other critical features than existing dialysis systems. Our collaboration with Apollo allows us to further tailor our system to best meet the needs of patients and physicians in India and will leverage Apollo’s deep expertise and reach in treating ESRD patients,” said Omar Ishrak, chairman and chief executive officer of Medtronic, Inc. In India, approximately 10 percent of adults (nearly 7.5 crore or 75 million people) suffer from chronic kidney disease, and it is estimated that nearly two lakh (200,000) new ESRD patients require dialysis or kidney transplant every year. In spite of multiple efforts to decrease the high mortality and improve the quality of life of ESRD patients, several important infrastructure and economic barriers have prevented broader access to dialysis treatment in India. When a patient reaches ESRD, options for survival are very limited unless they receive RRT. The best treatment option for ESRD patients is renal transplant. However, research suggests that only five percent of ESRD patients receive a needed transplant. This gap between demand and supply of organs will only widen over time, as more patients develop kidney disease and enter ESRD. The next best treatment alternative to RRT for ESRD patients is dialysis, a process that enables the removal of excess metabolic waste, toxins, and water from the blood. Dialysis is performed using two modalities – peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. Hemodialysis is by far the most widely used treatment option globally and in India. More than 90 percent of patients who undergo dialysis in India receive hemodialysis. Today, the standard frequency of receiving hemodialysis is three sessions a week, each lasting between three to five hours per session. Patients typically receive this therapy in a hospital or stand-alone dialysis centre, with a very limited number of patients receiving therapy at home. Apollo Hospitals and Medtronic expect that a new portable system would broaden a healthcare provider’s capability to serve patients from hospital to home, saving costs to the healthcare system overall.  

BP Clinics is an initiative aimed at combating the menace of high BP in the country, with focus on reducing or delaying incidence of blood pressure and minimising the incidence of complications in those who are already hypertensive, Sangita Reddy, executive director of Apollo Hospitals Group, said in a release. “Around Rs 10 crore will be invested in setting up these clinics in the initial phase, and these will be expanded further after reviewing the outcomes,” she said, adding initially, the group would be launching these clinics at Apollo Jubilee Hills and Hyderguda here, followed by Apollo Secunderabad. These will have a structure comprising advanced BP Clinics located at Apollo’s hospitals and serve as hubs besides having a series of BP Clinics, Express BP Clinics and homecare services. These clinics will have advanced diagnostics infrastructure like periscopes, which can monitor central blood pressure and check elasticity of blood vessels, and devices for 24 hours BP monitoring. Speaking on the occasion, BP specialist, Venkata S Ram said only 50 per cent of the patients with hypertension were aware that they had high BP and among them only 50 per cent were on treatment and only 50 per cent of these had BP under control. “Around 90 million people in our country suffer from hypertension and approximately $24 billion is incurred annually to take care of high BP patients in India. It is estimated that around one in every three urbanites and one in four rural people are afflicted by hypertension in the country,” he added.  

Announcing the opening of the clinic, which comes under Apollo First Med Hospitals, Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, said on Friday the hospital chain would have a multi-pronged approach to diagnose complex fever and unknown origin. The initial investment would be around Rs 3 crore for the startup. “”We have started this at First Med Hospital and once it’s fine-tuned, we will have 10 such centers by the end of the year,”” she said, adding soon it would be rolled out in other parts of the country. Reddy said the hospital chain had invested in infrastructure and equipment for this initiative. The company has earlier said it would expand through retail healthcare, which involves moving outpatients from the main hospitals to the neighborhood areas and expand further in Tier II and III cities. Since 2012, some of the retail healthcare expansion projects of Apollo Group include dental clinics (Apollo White) with Trivitron — the chain now has over 20 clinics and plans are to have about 120 by 2014, and Apollo Dialysis.  

The Apollo Hriday Suraksha Package which will provide a one-of-its kind medical insurance to patients was launched by globally renowned cricketer Sourav Ganguly along with Dr Rupali Basu, CEO, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals and Eastern Region, Apollo Hospitals, India. Apollo Hriday Suraksha is a unique health check offer which comes with a double assurance. If all the reports for the person undergoing this check-up are normal, the hospital will provide a medical insurance coverage up to Rs. 2 lakhs valid for a period of one year from the date of the check-up. The insurance would cover the following: Heart Attack: PTCA (Angioplasty) & PPI (Permanent Pacemaker Implantation) Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery – CABG Open Heart Valve Replacement or repair For details of the package and online bookings please visit our page: https://apollogleneagles.in/Preventive Health Care.html  

Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals in association with Illusions and Bhabna aaj-o-kaal of Kolkata organized a special cancer survivor program on October 01, 2013 in Kolkata. The special invitees of the program included ace cricketer, Mr Yuvraj Singh and renowned film artiste, Ms Manisha Koirala. Both the special invitees shared their emotions and experience of fighting cancer and winning the battle. Dr Rupali Basu, CEO, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, addressed the gathering which included Honorable Governor of West Bengal, Shri. M K Narayanan, Celebrities, doctors, cancer survivors and school children. The survivors and the audience interacted with a special panel comprising Yuvraj Singh, Manisha Koirala, Dr Rupali Basu (CEO – Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals), Dr Saibal Mukherjee (Director – Oncology Services) and Dr Shaikat Gupta (Consultant – Surgical Oncology) during the program.  

Apollo Hospitals Group has been honoured with the ‘Healthcare Service Provider Company of the Year’ award at the Frost & Sullivan 5th Annual India Healthcare Excellence Awards 2013. We would like to thank all of you for your love and support. The coveted Frost & Sullivan India Healthcare Excellence Awards are presented to companies that demonstrate best practices in the Indian Healthcare and Life sciences industry.  

AIMA, the apex body of the management profession, announced the appointment of its office bearers for 2013-14 on Friday. Ms. Preetha Reddy is the first woman president of AIMA in its history of 57 years and succeeds D Shivakumar, former managing director, Nokia India Private Limited. Reddy will be responsible for leading AIMA’s initiatives for the year and creating strategies to support the association’s mission of building management capabilities in the country. Ms. Reddy said: “I am pleased to be entrusted with the responsibility to lead AIMA.” H M Nerurkar, managing director at Tata Steel Limited, is the new senior vice president of AIMA, a position that was occupied by Ms. PreethaReddy last year. Nerurkar was the vice president during 2012-13. Firdose Vandrewala, chairman, Hirco Developments, joins the ranks of AIMA office bearers as vice president. P Dwarkanath continues as the Treasurer. Ms. Preetha Reddy heads the leading private sector healthcare services provider in India, which is among Asia’s largest healthcare networks. She has been working with multiple industry bodies and the Government of India to advance policy decisions on important healthcare issues. In 2009, the Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, invited her to join the Indo-US and Indo-Malaysia CEOs Forums, think-tank created to strengthen bilateral cooperation and trade. Ms. Preetha Reddy is also a founding member of the National Quality Council, which provides the guidelines on minimum quality standards to Indian Hospitals.  

Apollo Hospitals pioneered health checks in India, bringing in a culture of prevention being better than cure. Over the last 30 years, more than 8 million individuals have benefitted from Apollo Health checks. Continuing to support causes that keep people healthy, popular Actor Suriya inaugurated the first ever Apollo Personalised Health Check at Apollo Ayanambakkam in the city today. From inspiring over 3, 50,000 individuals to pledge to stay heart – healthy through the Billion Hearts Beating initiative to extending support to CURE Foundation (an initiative for cancer prevention, cure & rehabilitation), for spreading awareness about cancer, its causes, symptoms and treatment options, the Apollo Hospitals Group, in addition to providing outstanding clinical outcomes, is on an extended mission to make the country healthy and safe by choice. The new personalised health check process will involve a pre-test assessment of an individual’s health by a health assessment consultant, based on which a package of tests is designed to cater to the specific needs of the customer. This will be followed by taking samples from the customer and preparation of a detailed report, which in turn will lead to a personalised consultation by a physician for that individual. Thus, while there will be a core set of tests that are applicable to the particular customer type – based on age and gender, there will also be an additional set of tests unique to the individual as prescribed by the health assessment consultant. The personalised health checks will result in better medical outcomes for the individual as opposed to a ‘one size fits all’ master health check. Pledging to protect his health at Apollo Ayanambakkam, Actor Suriya said, “”People should realize that taking charge of their health throughout their life can prevent and control chronic illnesses, and in the long run reduce healthcare costs. I’m glad to support Apollo Hospitals in their endeavour to spread the message of preventive healthcare today.”” “”It is a harsh reality we are fighting every day that no nation can afford to cure all its sick. The only way we can win this on-going battle is by preventing disease. Apollo’s personalised health checks is our plea to every individual to take charge of one’s own health and help create a Healthier India””, said Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group on the occasion. By the year 2025, a five-fold increase in cancer rates is predicted – 1.5 million new cases will be added every year. Around 80 million people will be affected by diabetes and 60 million people with heart disease. Non-communicable and lifestyle-related diseases are on the rise and will be the cause for 75% of all mortality by the year 2020. Unfortunately, the diseases are contracted long before the patient displays any symptoms. The 3 crucial steps to handling such diseases are prevention, detection and management. A few of the clinical milestones achieved by the Apollo Hospitals Group include: Pioneered health checks benefitting 8 million individuals Emerged as the world’s busiest Solid Organ Transplant program: 1,200 transplants in the year 2012 360 degree heart care: 152,000 surgeries, 125,000 angioplasties performed Pioneering Emergency services: 120,000 lives saved every year Transforming Neurosciences: 10,000 surgeries every year Pioneers in several Orthopaedic procedures and South East Asia’s only robotic spine surgery centre Revolutionising Cancer Care: CyberKnife, Novalis TX, Trubeam and soon to launch South East Asia’s 1st Proton Beam Facility. Spearheaded the Robot-assisted surgery revolution and have the largest number of centres across India.  

The aim of the joint venture between Apollo Hospitals and Saarum Innovations was the creation of a sophisticated bio bank as well as a personalized medicine company. Shobana Kamineni, the Executive Director, New Initiatives, Apollo Hospitals and Sreevatsa Natarajan, CEO, Sapien Biosciences announced the details about this bio bank. Sapien Biosciences consists of collections of high quality and systematically archived human samples which can be used for new clinical and research and development applications. About Sapien Biosciences Sapien Biosciences is the first commercial bio bank of India, which is established as a JV between Apollo Hospitals and Saarum Innovations. The role of Sapien Biosciences is to leverage the pathological and diagnostic data for developing state-of-the-art diagnostics as well as provide world class genetic risk assessment. It will facilitate cell-related research assistance to various Pharma companies. It is the 70:30 JV between Apollo Hospitals and Saarum Innovations. The joint venture will invest around 25 crore Rupees by 2015 in order to scale up the operations. The Sapien Biosciences will also provide the personalised treatment to patients, which will include detection of the genetic disposition of patients for early diagnosis of diseases. It will have access to 50 different hospitals of Apollo for the process of collection of samples as well as tissues for bio bank. Sapien Biosciences will also collect its samples from the research-oriented clinics as well as hospitals for bio-banking needs and personalised medicine. Sapien Biosciences has also launched its first personalised product called MyPlatelet. This product helps in determining the response of a patient to the blood thinning medication. MyPlatelet will be used for measuring the genetic make-up of a patient as well as for suggesting the specific treatments. India already has a few small-scale bio-banks, but this is the first commercial facility of India. There are around 150 large bio-banks in the world, which also include non-commercial and commercial ones apart from the non-profit bio-banks. What is a bio-bank? Bio-banks are very important from the biomedical research point of view. There are various kinds of bio-specimens which include purified DNA, plasma, saliva and blood. All these bio-specimens are maintained in the bio-banks. Actually, bio-banks are the libraries or the store house of the human organism. Bio-banks catalog the specimens by making use of the genetic as well as other kinds of traits like ethnicity, blood type, gender and age. Researchers of various organisations and firms can access these bio-banks in case they need the specimen that has similar kinds of traits for their research studies. Bio-banks are also accessed by the clinics which perform the research studies and clinical studies.  

Apollo is Asia’s foremost integrated healthcare provider and has been honoured with the trust of over 37 million patients who came from 120 countries. Every year, over 50,000 patients from across the world travel to Apollo Hospitals for an international standard of medical treatment at an affordable cost. Speaking on the occasion of the momentous 30th anniversary, Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group said”Our journey of healing began in Chennai with the launch of the country’s first corporate hospital. Over the years, Apollo has earned global recognition for its highly skilled medical talent and world class infrastructure that enable it to deliver clinical outcomes that compare with the best institutions in the world, at an affordable cost. Apollo will aggressively propagate the need for personalized check-ups. We were the pioneers in this space and we want to continue to do what we do better. Accessibility is just as important as affordability when it comes to administering healthcare and hence the medical fraternity as a whole needs to invest in better IT Infrastructure to ensure smarter patient management, gain remote access and upgrade technology to stay ahead.”””” Dr. Reddy added “Trusted across the world, Apollo Hospitals is committed to serving the underserved geographies in India and will be adding over 2,500 beds over the next three years while simultaneously strengthening its prowess as a global healthcare destination”. Ms. Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Managing Director said “With unparalleled Clinical excellence combined with world class expertise, tempered with ever-tender empathy, Apollo’s mission has always been to bring healthcare of international standards within the reach of every individual. Keeping that in mind we have spread our footprint across tier II and III locations to serve more people and enable positive clinical outcomes. To bring in our 30th anniversary of serving the community, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai will be organising 30,000 health screenings across Tamil Nadu in keeping with its credo of encouraging people to stay well and healthy”. Apollo Hospitals had pioneered the concept of preventive health care in India with the Apollo Health Checks and has performed over 8 million health checks since inception. “Apollo’s invaluable asset is the trust of 37 million patients earned over 30 years. The journey this far has been both challenging and rewarding. We have learnt from each challenge that came our way and it has helped mould us into what we are today. We will continue to strive to bring world Class Healthcare to India and help boost the sector as a whole and contribute to our economy.” said Ms. Suneeta Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group. Apollo Hospitals’ India footprint will witness a 3 pronged approach: Expansion of beds and facilities & units in existing clusters Address increasing demand and focus on key specialties Become dominant healthcare provider in key locations New hospitals in metros and large cities- reaching to wider urban population Expansion in tier II and tier III cities through REACH hospitals, garnering first mover advantage and leveraging strong brand Cities Targeted: Chennai – continued dominance by expanding into West and South of Chennai Bangalore – again we are widening the market reach by adding two hospitals in Bangalore both in North and South New hospitals in metros in West Nellore, Trichy and Nashik (REACH hospitals) A few of the clinical milestones achieved by the Apollo Hospitals Group include: Pioneered health checks benefitting 8 million individuals Emerged as the world’s busiest Solid Organ Transplant program: 1,200 transplants in the year 2012 360 degree heart care: 152,000 surgeries, 125,000 angioplasties performed Pioneering Emergency services: 120,000 lives saved every year Transforming Neurosciences: 10,000 surgeries every year Pioneers in several Orthopaedic procedures and South East Asia’s only robotic spine surgery centre Revolutionising Cancer Care: CyberKnife, Novalis TX, Trubeam and soon to launch South East Asia’s 1st Proton Beam Facility. Spearheaded the Robot-assisted surgery revolution and have the largest number of centres across India. Declared as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ by the Government of India- The Government of India has honoured Apollo Hospitals with the Apollo Commemorative Stamp. Apollo Hospitals is the first and only hospital to receive such recognition Rated as the “”””Best private sector multi-speciality Hospital’- by a reputed publication- Instilling hope in many, Apollo was the first to launch world’s first and only PET SUITE, the most technologically advanced diagnostic imaging facility along with First Renaissance Robotic Spine Surgery system in India and South Asia. Earned a prestigious rank as the best private Paediatric hospital in India- We are continuously striving to Make Chennai a safe place for Children by providing free First Aid and Basic Life Support training to teachers, parents, school van drivers and Traffic police Apollo Chennai featured among the best in Cardiac Care in India- On par with global standards including the most recent and India’s first Bridge Heart transplant. Emerged as the best private sector hospital for cancer care HIMSS Analytics Asia Pacific recognised Apollo Hospitals Chennai for achieving Stage 6 of the EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM) Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Founder and Chairman of the Apollo Hospitals Group was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award by NDTV. Revolutionised healthcare administration and ensuring access to all in India- Apollo hospitals’ were the First in the world to use satellite technology for telemedicine and first to introduce India’s first m-health model using the mobile telephony platform. From inspiring over 3, 50,000 individuals to pledge to stay heart- healthy through the Billion Hearts Beating initiative to extending support to CURE Foundation (an initiative for cancer prevention, cure & rehabilitation), for spreading awareness about cancer, its causes, symptoms and treatment options, the Apollo Hospitals Group, in addition to providing outstanding clinical outcomes, is on an extended mission to make the country healthy and safe by Choice.  

Indians are more prone to single compartment knee pain and that instead of total knee replacement, OrthoGlide implant and the new technique interpositional arthroplasty can be used as it doesn’t affect the ligaments of other compartments of the knee, says Dr Madan Mohan Reddy, senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Apollo Hospitals. On Saturday, Dr Klaus Lehrberger, renowned orthopaedic surgeon from Germany, provided a live demo of OrthoGlide and two patients underwent this procedure on the same day. The surgery, which is interpositional arthoplasty, is a minimally invasive knee surgery that involves an orthoglide implant, for early osteoarthritis where the arthritis is restricted to a single compartment of the knee. “It is between conservative treatment and total knee replacement,” said Dr Madan Mohan Reddy, senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon, during the workshop in which two patients aged 46 and 51 were operated on and the procedure was screened live. The doctors explained that the knee is divided into three compartments and Indians are prone to suffer osteoarthritis in the medial compartment of the knee. Earlier, doctors recommended either conservative treatment of suggesting weight reduction or lifestyle changes or the other extreme of undergoing a complete knee replacement, which was not just expensive – Rs 2 lakh – but also involves extensive post-operative therapy including physiotherapy. “This surgery is not just cost effective but also leads to faster recovery. A patient can get operated on in the morning and get discharged in the evening. The surgery doesn’t affect the ligaments in the other compartments of the knee,” explained Dr Madan Mohan. Dr Klaus Lehrberger said that the incision will be four to five centimeters and the implant is improvised in such a way that it requires no screw or bone cementing. “So far there has been no problem in stability of the implant post surgery,” he said. Apart from being cost effective, surgery costs Rs 1.3 lakhs with the implant alone at Rs 60,000, and fast recovery. Doctors said it can be used for younger patients, who can get back to their usual routine without any restrictions unlike complete knee replacement where the patient cannot sit on the floor or sit cross legged and so on. Dr Madan Mohan added that the surgery can be done on patients aged between 45 and 55 or even lesser. “Osteoarthritis is an aging process and happens both to men and women with the incidence of one in six persons above 55 years. The only way to prevent this is to maintain proper body weight, strengthen the knees and avoiding too much of sitting on the floor and Indian closets,” the doctor added. Dr Lehrberger said the technique was not a substitute for total knee replacement. “Compared to total knee replacement, this interpositional arthroplasty technique is much more invasive and after the procedure we have never seen any dislocation. No bone cut and no screws are necessary,” he said. In case of total knee replacement surgery, one requires physiotherapy for many days post-operation, but, in this case, patients can do some exercises taught by the doctors, he informed.  

When William Blake predicted that you would one day “”hold infinity in the palm of your hand,’ he must have been prescient. Today, with a mobile phone, you can do just that. Even save a life. The initial results of the study, presented at a recent conference on ‘Transforming Healthcare with ICT’ at Hyderabad, have indicated that 55 per cent of those interviewed were willing to get medical consultation and treatment via the mobile phone. Unexpectedly, about 28 per cent had used the mobile for some health care function in urban areas, and about 17 per cent in rural areas. “We were pleasantly surprised by the results,” says K. Ganapathy, president, Apollo TeleNetworking Foundation (ATNF), who conceptualized and executed the study, with the help of students of Apollo Nursing Colleges across the country. The questionnaire was designed after several rounds of discussions and review, in conjunction with Arun Rai, Regents Professor and Harkins Chair, Georgia State University. “What started us off was the fact that we did not quite have any data from India about the awareness of mobile health (mHealth) services in the general population, and whether they were willing to accept such services, if made available to them. A lot of mobile services are being used by the public, but after all, health is not pizza,” Dr. Ganapathy explains. However, with a record 915 million mobile phones being used in India, which has a tele density of 72 per cent in urban areas, and 52 per cent in rural areas, the temptation to see if health care can be made more accessible via the mobile is very high. The study was done over the last nine months, and the analysis was done at Georgia State University. A total of 1866 final responses were received from subjects in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh. It also showed that 22 per cent in rural areas were not aware of the SMS facility, and another 24 per cent, though aware were not using the service. About 21 per cent in urban areas and 53 per cent in rural areas were completely unaware that a mobile phone could be used to access the internet. In contrast, Prof. Rai says, a study on consumer acceptance of mHealth in the United States showed that 38% of the respondents indicated that they had started using mHealth. “There are mixed lessons from the survey for policy makers. Clearly, rural and urban India appear to be ready to use mHealth. But what we must remember is that these solutions need to be customised for different populations,” Dr. Ganapathy says. Obviously solution providers must factor in income and education variables too, and incorporate the fact that 57 per cent are sharing phones. Ensuring utilisation, however, would not be possible without education, empowerment and building trust with the end users, he adds. “”Our study revealed that a one-shoe-size-fits-all approach should not be followed for mHealth in India,”” Prof. Rai says.