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.  

With the launch of the clinic, Apollo Hospitals will counsel adult patients with diabetes regarding the pros and cons of using an Insulin Pump (CSII). They will also prescribe insulin pumps on a trial basis so that patients can try them before making a final decision. An insulin pump is a small device that is worn externally and can be discreetly clipped to your belt, slipped into a pocket, or hidden under your clothes. It delivers precise doses of rapid-acting insulin to closely match your body’s needs. An insulin pump is a different method of insulin delivery for people with diabetes and can replace the conventional multiple insulin injection regimen. The pump also allows the patient to give insulin “on demand” when they eat. The advantage of using a pump to deliver insulin is that doses may be finely titrated.  

A blind schoolteacher from Andhra Pradesh, who was suffering from a rare genetic condition called the Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome (HPS), underwent successful double-lung transplantation at the Apollo Hospitals here. The double-lung transplantation for this genetic condition is the first case in India and second in the world. The first successful transplant was done in the US in 2005, said Dr Paul Ramesh Thangaraj, senior consultant cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon at Apollo Hospitals. Only one in five lakh to one in a million have this rare condition. HPS results from mutations in one of seven different genes. “The 26-year-old patient was extremely malnourished. Also, this causes absence of pigment in the skin, blindness, bleeding tendencies and the slow degeneration of the lungs, causing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide to be severely impaired (as happens in end-stage lung disease). The condition called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis made the patient bedridden, dependent on oxygen 24 hours a day,” the doctor explained. As his heart was functioning well, only his two lungs were removed and replaced with the donated lungs of a victim of a road accident. “The patient was 5’6 inch tall but he weighed only 36 kg. So, matching lungs that suited his size was very difficult as the lungs should not be too large or too small. Fortunately, we received the lungs and the transplantation was performed five weeks ago,” said Dr Thangaraj. Earlier, the patient stayed at the hospital prior to the transplant operation, unable to remove the oxygen mask even for a few seconds. “As he stays somewhere in Nellore, we kept him at the hospital for more than five weeks. He is well now and will be discharged soon. It will take some three to six months for him to gain weight,” said the transplant surgeon.  

The organizers announced the 39 GOLD and EXCELLENCE award winners of the Asian Hospital Management Awards 2013. The winners were chosen out of 298 entries representing 78 hospitals across 13 countries. Apollo Hospitals were the proud winners of 10 of these awards and won awards in 9 categories. The organizers gave the Apollo Group a standing ovation by conferring us with the “Special Outstanding Achievement Award” thus with a total of 11 awards. They commended the Apollo Group for being an improvement oriented organization in view of the 71 improvement projects submitted by the Group and the number of awards won by the group. It was indeed a very special moment for the Group. The awards we won are: Corporate Social Responsibility Project Apollo Hospitals, Delhi – “Billion Hearts Beating Foundation” Cost Reduction Project Apollo Speciality Hospitals, Madurai – “To Control the expenses for CAG and PTCA Procedures.” Human Resource Development Project Apollo Hospital Hyderabad – “Apollo Simulation Laboratory” Service Improvement for Internal Customers Project Apollo Hospital Hyderabad – “Apollo Simulation Laboratory” Patient Safety Project Apollo Hospitals, Chennai – “Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme” Clinical Service Improvement Project Apollo Hospitals, Delhi – “Pressure ulcer: zero tolerance” Customer Service Project Apollo Hospitals, Chennai – “Patient Satisfaction Tracking System (PSTS) – A break through Innovation in Healthcare for Voice of Customer Process” Bio Medical Equipment / Facilities Improvement Project Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata- “Project Product: Severity Index Scoring For Biomedical Equipment” Apollo Hospitals, Chennai – “Phasing out mercury” Innovations in Hospital Management and Governance Apollo Hospitals Dhaka – “Passion Led Patient Care”  

A rare hip replacement surgery was performed by Apollo Hospitals on a patient of 103 years old. The patient was brought to the hospital after he had an accidental fall. After investigation, it was found that his hip was fractured and a prosthesis that was implanted during a surgery about 20 years ago had also become loose. The case presented a great challenge for the team considering the patient’s advance age and associated problem of hypertension. His bones were found to be brittle and poor in strength, as is expected in a patient of his age, and were augmented with wires. The surgery itself took about an hour,”” Mithin Aachi, who lead the team of doctors at Apollo, said. The patient’s condition is reported to be stable. The hospital has performed about 500 joint replacement surgeries since its inception.  

Apollo Centre of Advanced Pediatrics (ACAP), Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, India’s First Internationally Accredited Hospital offering state-of-the art tertiary care in various pediatric specialties, announced the commencement of a unique five-day course. This course, will be conducted under the able guidance of National and International faculty will cover important topics in Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Liver Transplantation and Nutrition. It is for the first time that such a course is being organized in India. The course will commence on 28th August and end on 1st September 2013. This course will be spearheaded by global stalwarts. Prof. Deirdre Kelly, Pediatric Hepatology, Liver Unit, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, UK; Prof. Kathleen Schwarz, Pediatric, Director Pediatric Liver Centre, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA; Prof. Berthold Koletzko, Div. Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine, Dr. Von Hauner Child’s Hospital, Univ. of Munich Medical Centre, Germany; Prof. Olivier O Goulet, Director Dept. of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, National Reference Centre of Rare Digestive Diseases, Paris and Dr. Mike Thomson, Pediatric Gastroenterologist and Interventional Endoscopist, Sheffield Children’s Hospital NHS Trust, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Sheffield University Medical School, England. Distinguished national faculty from across the country has confirmed participation. Dr. Preetha Reddy, Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “”Apollo Hospitals has always laid emphasis on clinical excellence. To excel clinically, it is essential for clinicians to update their knowledge and hence we continue to organsie such international courses. We have 600 graduate trainees in 32 disciplines and to provide an academic milieu we have created a pan year robust CME program””. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Sr. Consultant Pediatric Gastroenterology & Hepatology Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and the course director said “”upto 30% of patients visiting pediatricians have a gastrointestinal or liver problem. It is, therefore, important that we help share the latest treatment guidelines with pediatricians. This year marks 15 years of the first successful liver transplant in India at Apollo Hospital Delhi and so we felt that the time was right to discuss complex management issues in transplantation as well. “The overriding goal of the program is to present doctors with a platform aimed at equipping them to deal with practical issues in gastroenterology, hepatology, liver transplantation and nutrition more effectively” said Dr. Sarath Gopalan,Consultant Pediatric Gastroenterology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and Associate Course Director. In the last 15 years, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Delhi has performed 1500 pediatric and adult transplants of which 842 have been performed in the last three years with a success rate of 90%. The cost of a liver transplant has come down considerably following the increase in the number of transplants being performed. Nowadays, the average cost of a transplant for a child is Rs 15 lakh. This is 1/10th the cost in Western countries but with outcomes comparable to the best centres in the West.  

“It is widely perceived that women have a lower risk of suffering from heart attack when compared to men. But that is a myth. Women have natural protection till a certain age but after menopause the risk of heart attack in women is higher than that of men. Heart disease is a bigger threat for women than cancer,”” Reddy said on the sidelines of the silver jubilee celebrations of Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad. Stressing on the of importance of regular checkups for women, he pointed out that unlike men who usually have chest pain during heart attack, there are usually no symptoms of heart attack for women. From today, Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad will be opening its doors for women to go for health checkup from 6pm to 7pm every day. Dr. Reddy also warned that the incidence of heart attack has been rising among the youth with the number of cases increasing every year. A cardiologist himself, Reddy had warned earlier that heart disease was going to be the biggest challenge for the healthcare industry in India. “”In two decades from now there will not be enough doctors, nurses or hospitals to treat heart patients. We need to bring awareness about the disease so that people can prevent it,” Reddy said.  

On its 25th anniversary in Hyderabad (the group, headquartered in Chennai, has completed 30 years) the Group Founder and Chairman, Dr Prathap C Reddy said the University of Rochester Medical Centre (URMC) will work with Apollo Hospitals in areas of Clinical Care, Education and Research across multiple specialties which include Gastroenterology, Emergency Medicine and Neurosciences. Medical education will be the primary focus in the initial phase of collaboration. The two intend to exchange faculty and trainees, engage in joint research studies, and develop shared approaches to patient care. Dr. Reddy also announced the launch of a program called “”Healthy Schools”” to screen school children. The program includes a health check, maintenance of health records, and health education. A fifty thousand worth treatment will be provided for accidents (students and parents). The program is being offered at Rs 200 per student per year. Schools that implement it will receive the “”healthy schools”” branding. If students are unable to afford this program, Apollo Hospitals will arrange donors to support them financially. According to Reddy, the “”goal is to have a million school children enrolled in this program in a year.”” In Hyderabad, Apollo began with a 150 bed hospital on August 12, 1988. It now offers 650 beds. Overall, Apollo Hospitals today has around 8400 beds and hopes to cross 10,000 by the end of 2014.