Chennai: In what is like an occasion to celebrate for the entire nation, the Apollo Hospitals group, India's first and Asia's largest private healthcare provider, completed 20 years of dedicated service to people today.

What makes the occasion even more important is that it coincides with the Apollo Hospitals group emerging as the 'world's third largest private healthcare services provider'. After its humble beginning in 1983 with a 150-bed hospital at Chennai, the group has grown and performed consistently, touching over 10 million lives and presently having a network of over 36 hospitals, owning and managing more than 6,200 beds in India and abroad.

The group, on its 20^th anniversary, outlined aggressive plans for growth and shared the blueprint for reaching out to the global audience, the first definitive step in the direction of utilising India's potential to emerge as the 'preferred global healthcare destination'.

The 20^th anniversary celebrations were started by 'Apollo', the first child born at Apollo Hospitals in 1983 and were followed by a pledge by the Apollo Hospitals group's 16,000 employees, from 37 hospitals, 46 clinics and from its offices in India and abroad, to reaffirm their commitment to Apollo and to every patient they treat. The entire programme was also webcast on the group's website www.apollolife.com, www.apollohospitalsgroup.com and www.medvarsity.com for people from anywhere in the world to be a part of the celebrations to mark a milestone in Indian healthcare.

Says Apollo Hospitals group chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy: "It is a proud moment for all of us at Apollo today. The dream to provide quality healthcare services to people, without a need for them to travel abroad, is taking shape progressively. The last two decades have seen Apollo touching over 10 million lives and building a relationship of trust with them. This has also validated our model of healthcare delivery, of providing services with a commitment to care, and now we are in a position to offer our services to people throughout the world.

"Our driving spirit over the past twenty years has been the confidence reposed in us by our patients and the untiring efforts of every member of the Apollo family to provide personalised care and attention to anyone who comes to Apollo. It is this commitment that has helped Apollo become an iconic brand that is caring, path-breaking and constantly challenging the limits."

In the past 20 years Apollo has achieved what many thought was not possible for an Indian healthcare company. Today, not only is Apollo the third largest private healthcare group in the world, but it has become the benchmark for assessing the quality of healthcare delivery. The group has now set for itself the target of becoming the world's second largest private healthcare services provider by its 25^th anniversary.

To achieve this target, the group is further consolidating its activities in the entire healthcare orbit and is looking at leveraging its strengths in providing treatment services and comprehensive medical solutions to people and/or corporates outside India as well. Apollo will initially target specific regions to create wider awareness about the benefits of healthcare services in India and will also set up service-facilitation network in these regions.

In addition to this, Apollo will offer its expertise in tele-medicine, MBPO (medical business process outsourcing), IT services, preventive healthcare management and training facilities for medical and para-medical professionals. It has initiated the process by targeting focused regions which include the Middle-East Asia, South-East Asia, CIS countries, Eastern Africa and India's neighbouring countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar). Apollo has also been the key driver in the emergence of medi-tourism in India and with a clearly charted out action plan, is attaining leadership position in putting India firmly on the global healthcare map.

The group has achieved a landmark with the completion of 20 years of its inception but rather than resting on its laurels, it is constantly re-inventing itself, benchmarking its quality of services with the best healthcare centres in the world to emerge stronger to manage the healthcare requirements of the world, after steering the growth of India's healthcare sector.

In its quest to provide world class services, Apollo has excelled in management of illness and expanded into several realms of healthcare delivery, including primary, secondary and tertiary care services, e-health, franchising, IT and Internet based technology, telemedicine, virtual medical university, education and training, home healthcare, pharmacy retailing, hospital project management and health insurance.

Today the group owns and manages a network of 36 hospitals, 46 clinics, over 135 pharmacies and provides the most advanced treatment services in more than 50 medical specialties. The group has also been instrumental in introducing tele-medicine facility in India and presently operates a pan-India network of 35 tele-medicine centres in areas including the interiors of North-East, rural South India and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.