Apollo Hospitals plans expansion in Africa

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, India’s biggest healthcare chain, plans to buy hospitals in Tanzania, Botswana and Nigeria in addition to its plan to set up one in Dar es Salaam.

“There are hospitals available for takeover in Tanzania, Botswana and Nigeria. We are looking at them,” said Radhey Mohan. P, senior general manager, international business development, Apollo Hospitals. He declined to provided more details.

Apollo is setting up a 500-bed hospital in Tanzania that will require an investment of $70 million and plans to serve patients from east and west Africa.

The hospital will have 300 beds in the first phase, and the rest will be added in the second phase. The construction of the hospital will start in 2012 and the doctors at the facility will be a mix of Indians and local hires.

Apollo also plans to set up a clinic each in Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia, he said.

“We are very hopeful about our expansion plans in Africa,” said Sangita Reddy, executive director-operations, Apollo group of Hospitals.

“The clinics will support the hospital. It will be a hub-and-spoke model. The preparation of the feasibility report for the clinics is on,” said Sudhir Diggikar, chief executive of Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd.

Every clinic will involve an investment of around Rs. 12 crore. At present, the healthcare service provider has a capacity of more than 8,700 beds across 54 hospitals within and outside India.

Joseph Mettle Nunoo, deputy health minister of Ghana, said Apollo is interested in setting up a hospital there as well.

An increasing number of African countries are interested in partnering with Indian organizations both in the public and the private sectors in the areas of healthcare services, manufacturing of tropical drugs and joint research for prevention of communicable