Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited is an Indian multinational healthcare group headquartered in Chennai. It is the largest for-profit private hospital network in India, with a network of 71 owned and managed hospitals. Along with the eponymous hospital chain, the company also operates pharmacies, primary care and diagnostic centres, telehealth clinics, and digital healthcare services among others through its subsidiaries. The company was founded by Prathap C. Reddy in 1983 as the first corporate healthcare provider in India. Several of Apollo's hospitals have been among the first in India to receive international healthcare accreditation by the America-based Joint Commission International (JCI) as well as NABH accreditation.

History

Apollo Hospitals was founded by Prathap C. Reddy in 1983 as the first corporate health care in India. The first branch at Chennai was inaugurated by the then President of India Zail Singh. Apollo developed telemedicine services, after starting a pilot project in 2000 at Aragonda, Prathap Reddy's home village. In 2006, Apollo exited its hospital in Colombo called Apollo Hospital Sri Lanka by selling its stake to Sri Lanka Insurance. In 2007, Apollo Hospitals and DKV AG established a 74:26 joint venture health insurance company called Apollo DKV Insurance Co. The company was rebranded as Apollo Munich Health Insurance in 2009. In 2008, Apollo Hospitals started Apollo Reach, a chain of hospitals for Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities as well as semi-urban and rural areas, with the opening of the first Apollo Reach hospital in Karimnagar. In December 2012, Apollo Hospitals sold its 38% stake in Apollo Health Street, the group's healthcare business process outsourcing division, to Sutherland Global Services for inr 2250000000. In 2014, Apollo Hospitals acquired Hetero Med Solutions, a South Indian pharmacy chain with 320 stores, from Hetero Group for inr 1460000000 in a slump sale. The stores were rebranded as Apollo Pharmacy. In October 2015, Apollo launched home care services under Apollo HomeCare and its digital healthcare platform called Ask Apollo. Apollo signed an MoU with Health Education England in April 2017 to provide a large number of doctors to fill vacancies in the English National Health Service. In September 2017, Apollo announced an academic collaboration with Australia’s Macquarie University, where students enrolled in Macquarie's four-year graduate entry Doctor of Medicine program would complete 5 months of clinical rotations at Apollo hospitals in Hyderabad as part of their degree. In January 2019, Apollo opened Apollo Proton Cancer Centre in Chennai, which is reportedly the first proton therapy facility across South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. In 2020, Apollo Hospitals sold its 50.80% percent majority stake in Apollo Munich Health Insurance to HDFC for inr 14950000000. Later that year, it acquired IHH Healthcare's 50% joint venture stake in Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in Kolkata for inr 4100000000. In March 2022, Apollo Hospitals got included in Nifty 50 benchmark index, replacing Indian Oil, to become the first hospital company to be included on the index.

Subsidiaries

Apollo HealthCo

Apollo HealthCo was formed in 2021 with the merger of the group's non-hospital pharmacy chain Apollo Pharmacy and its digital healthcare business known as Apollo 24/7.

Apollo Health and Lifestyle

Apollo Health and Lifestyle is the primary and secondary care arm of the group which operates multi-specialty clinics under Apollo Clinics, diagnostics and pathology labs under Apollo Diagnostics, diabetes clinics under Apollo Sugar, dental hospitals under Apollo White, dialysis centres under Apollo Dialysis, minimally invasive surgical hospitals under Apollo Spectra, women/children hospitals under Apollo Cradle, and fertility clinics under Apollo Fertility.

Apollo TeleHealth Services

Apollo TeleHealth Services owns the telehealth network of the group, operating via a business-to-consumer model under which it offers direct services like online consultations, appointment booking, medicine delivery, among others; a business-to-business offering to corporates for their employees; and a business-to-government agreement providing telehealth services in partnership with public health systems. Established in 1999, it is headquartered in Hyderabad and has more than 100 franchised teleclinics.

Research and education divisions

Controversies

Allegations of illegal organ trade

British newspaper Telegraph in a December 2023 report alleged that the chain's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital was involved in facilitating a "cash-for-kidney" racket, luring impoverished villagers from Myanmar to sell their kidneys to wealthy Burmese patients through forged documents and fabricated family ties. The Government of Delhi consequently initiated an investigation against the hospital.

Medical negligence