Address Governor at the inauguration of the new building of Apollo Hospitals in Navi Mumbai

Address by Shri CH Vidyasagar Rao, Governor of Maharashtra at the inauguration of the new building of Apollo Hospitals at Parsik Hill Road, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai at 1000 hrs on Monday 14th November 2016

Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Dr Deepak Sawant, Hon’ble Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare, my esteemed friend Dr Prathap Reddy, Founder and Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, Dr Ms Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson, Ms Shobana Kamineni, Executive Vice Chairperson, Miss Suneeta Reddy, Managing Director, Miss Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Dr Narendra Trivedi, CEO, people’s representatives, Consultants, Doctors, Members of the Apollo Hospitals family, distinguished invitees, ladies and gentlemen,

I am indeed delighted to associate myself with the inauguration of the new building of the Apollo Hospital in Navi Mumbai.

The Apollo Hospital is a new and prestigious addition to the healthcare infrastructure of Mumbai, and especially to this ever-growing and futuristic city of Navi Mumbai and I welcome it wholeheartedly.

Dr Prathap Reddy is a visionary. He is a pioneer who fought various odds in the license – permit era to bring quality health care to India through the chain of Apollo Hospitals.

During the last three decades, the name ‘Apollo Hospital’ has become a brand name for quality healthcare in India. It has become a preferred hospital, not just for the people of India, but also for the people from various countries of the world coming to India for medical treatment. The Apollo Group has created several medical facilities even at the district level. Dr Reddy is also serving his native place in Chittoor district, my place Karimnagar district and many other areas.

Navi Mumbai is the emerging city of India. The State Government is keen to develop it as a Smart City. With new International Airport coming up here, it will come on the global map. The Apollo Hospital is opening at the right moment and at the right place.

I have no doubt in my mind that the Apollo Hospital will create quality consciousness in healthcare across all hospitals and will benefit all sections of society.

I congratulate the Apollo Hospital on this day of inauguration of its ultra modern hospital building and convey my heartiest felicitations to my esteemed friend Dr Prathap Reddy, his family and his entire team on this day.

Ladies and gentlemen,

India’s doctors and surgeons are the best in the world. I am aware that some of these best are sitting in the audience today.

It fills our heart with pride when we see our doctors and surgeons having become an integral part of the healthcare system in the United States of America, in the United Kingdom and in many other countries.

Today, apart from hospitals in Mumbai, the hospitals in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi are increasingly attracting patients from Gulf and other foreign countries.

As a matter of fact, the number of patients from abroad visiting India for treatment has been growing by 23 to 25 per cent annually.

I was pleased to note that Apollo group alone treated 1.50 lakh foreign patients during the last financial year. I do feel that the Apollo Group should make conscious efforts alongwith other hospitals to make Maharashtra the preferred destination for medical tourism in the country. For this purpose we will have to market the strengths of our healthcare sector such as quality, personal care and affordability among different countries of the world.

Inaugurating the Global Ayurveda Festival in February earlier this year in Kozhikode, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi Ji had rightly said that India can be a leader in making affordable, holistic health care available to the world. I personally feel that the beginning can be made from Maharashtra.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra is present here today, I would like to assure you of all cooperation from the State Government in making Maharashtra, the preferred medical tourism destination.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Healthy Citizens are integral to building a healthy society and building a healthy economy. All the developed countries have a highly developed and modern health care system in place. At a time when India is making serious attempt to break into the league of super powers in the world, it is utmost important that we have in place a world class health care system for our people.

India has made significant progress in the healthcare sector since Independence. The average life expectancy in India was around 32 years in 1947. Today it has touched 69 years.

However a lot more needs to be done to create an efficient health care delivery system across the country. We need to evolve a system that provides high quality and affordable medical care to the people, particularly to the weaker and disadvantaged sections of society.

A huge divide exists between Rural India and Urban India in terms of access to healthcare.

I will appeal to the Apollo Hospital to form a mobile team of doctors and para medical staff as part of its social responsibility. The team should dedicate one day in a week to visit rural parts of Maharashtra and serve the people. I will also appeal to the Hospital to keep its OPD accessible to maximum people.

For a country of 1.25 billion people, we are producing very few doctors. There are 7 physicians per 10,000 population in India, compared to 15 in China, 25 in United States, 28 in the UK and 43 in Russia.

I read that the Apollo Hospital has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Health Education England recently to provide a large number of doctors to fill vacancies in the English National Health Service.

I will appeal to Dr Prathap Reddy to think of opening your own medical college and Nursing College as your next venture. This will help us meet the shortfall of doctors and nurses in the State.

Thought should also be given to constructing a building where relatives accompanying the patients could stay at affordable price.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The Government of India has launched the programme of Smart Cities and Smart Villages. This goal cannot be achieved without an element of smart healthcare. Smart healthcare is integral to smart cities and smart villages. Smart doesn’t mean high-end or costly, it means quality healthcare at affordable costs. I seek the cooperation of Apollo in extending smart healthcare to the people of Maharashtra.

Ladies and gentlemen,

A survey conducted by an American think tank covering 22000 publicly-traded companies in over 91 countries, showed that companies employing 30 percent and more female executives earn more profits. So it makes sound economic sense to employ more women.

One thing I really admire about this Hospital is that the entire group is managed very efficiently and professionally by Dr Reddy’s brilliant daughters – Dr Ms Preetha, Ms Shobana, Ms Suneeta and Ms Sangita. This is a classic example of women empowerment. This is something that other organizations, hospitals and Corporates must emulate.

On that note, I congratulate Dr Prathap Reddy, Dr Preetha and her sisters and the entire Apollo Hospital Parivar on this happy day and wish the Hospital success in its mission to serve society with care and compassion.

Thank you

Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra !!