Dr. Pratap C. Reddy, founder-Chairman of Apollo Hospitals, has helped toward making Chennai a centre for medical excellence in the country. He is also credited with being the catalyst in bringing quality health care to the country and modernising it.

Dr Reddy left the U.S. in the mid 1970's and set up his practice in India as a cardiologist. Moved by the death of an Indian in the U.S. for lack of money for surgery, Dr.Reddy decided to work towards improving medicalinfrastructure in India.

First's from Apollo

Declared a centre for excellence by the Government of India.

Initiated the idea of Corporate hospitals in Chennai.

First private company to administer health insurance in the country.

First to have an organ transplant registry in the country.

Pioneered the concept of plain balloon and laser angioplasty techniques in the country.

Apollo Heartline, a revolutionary tool to access ECG's over the telephone

He garnered the support of his friends and other doctors in the U.S. and began to work on his dream project. Most of the medical equipment had to be imported from abroad.

The first in the chain of the countrywide Apollo Hospitals was started in Chennai. Today, Chennai and the rest of the country can be proud of the state of the art medical equipment, especially the surgical equipment in the Apollo chain of hospitals.

A born visionary, Dr.Reddy, has today thirty Hospitals (owned and managed by him) with a total bed strength of 2,800 and an investment of Rs 800 crore. Dr.Pratap Reddy says 3P's are behind his success - purity, patience and perseverance. He admits that he has still a long way to go. His aim is to make India the health care destination of the world.

- Poornima S

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