Apollo eyes health market

Close on the heels of its tie-up Europe’s biggest health insurance firm DKV, Apollo Hospitals aims to capture 25 per cent of the health insurance sector in the country. According to Apollo Group of Hospitals chairman Dr Prathap C. Reddy, "Youth in India is 10 per cent more prone to heart diseases than the people in the West. They need the cover of health insurance. That is the reason why we have joined hands with Europe’s biggest health insurance firm to come up with Apollo DKV insurance."
"Currently not even one per cent of the total population in India comes under health insurance, but I hope that in the next few years at least 10 per cent of the population will come under insurance cover and Apollo DKV insurance will have 25 per cent of the market share," Dr Reddy told mediapersons before launching India’s first MRI with ambient experience and 64-slice CT scanner at PET CT Centre in the Apollo Hospitals campus in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Reiterating the Apollo Group’s promise to provide best patient care in the world, Dr Reddy said, "We are trying to make India a global centre for medical healthcare and the fact that nearly 15 to 20 per cent of Apollo patients are from outside India implies that we are heading towards our goal." Inaugurating the new machines, Union minister of State for health and family welfare Panabaka Lakshmi said that Apollo has done really well in providing healthcare services to the Indian population.
"Under the PM Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, the Centre is planning to build AIIMS-like medical facilities in various parts of the country and I urge the private sector to assist the government in making India healthier," she said.