As part of its phased-expansion plan, the Apollo Group of Hospitals is setting up centres of excellence (CoEs) in the areas of cardiology, oncology, neurology and orthopaedics. Through this move, the group is eyeing a five-fold increase in revenues in the next five years. As of now, about 30% of the group?s revenues come from cardiology; 20% from oncology and the rest is divided among other categories.
?The renewed focus on these four core areas will help us to gain a foothold and subsequently increase our market share both in domestic as well in the international markets,? Shobana Kamineni, executive director, New Initiatives, Apollo Hospitals Group told FE. The group now has over 8,500 beds, in 53 hospitals in India, rest of Asia and Africa. And its retail pharmacy operations is growing in full momentum with 322-odd stores in the country.
The organisational revamp is part of the Rs 3,000-crore expansion which the company had announced recently. Besides, it is looking to add about 4,000 beds in the country by the year 2014. To part-finance this revamp programme, the group is negotiating with private equity investors based out of London, Hong Kong and New York. The group has already invested Rs 1,800 crore till 2011 for its first phase.
According to Kamineni, the group aims to become an end-to-end service provider in the healthcare sector bridging colleges, hospitals and R&D.
?We are awaiting the Medical Council of India (MCI) guidelines to start an under-graduate academy apart from the existing post-graduate and nursing colleges to give a full circle in medical education,? she said.
In its R&D, the group is looking at novel technologies in addition to the conventional therapies for treatment of certain life style diseases. Its group company, Apollo Hospitals Educational and Research Centre (AHERF) has set up Cell and Molecular Biology Research Center (CMBRC), which will be involved in stem cell research and clinical trials, in Hyderabad. The centre plans to initially use bone marrow, placental and umbilical cord-derived stem cells, both for research and for clinical trials in certain key areas like critical limb ischemia, cerebral palsy and stroke. It also intends to use stem cells in research and in the therapy of several diseases like cardiovascular, neuro-degenerative disorders and diabetes.