PM inaugurates Apollo's first Reach Hospital

Chennai, Sep 5 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today inaugurated the first Apollo Reach Hospital at Karim Nagar in Andhra Pradesh through a telelink at a function in the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT) here today.

The Prime Minister described the Reaach Hospitals as a ''major healthcare initiative by the corporate Apollo Hospitals and stressed the importance of private-public partnership in delivering quality healthcare to the semi-urban and rural population in a vast country like India.

The Apollo Hopitals launched this new initiative on the occasion of completing 25 years in healthcare.

The Appllo Reach Hospitals, a pioneering initiative of the Apollo Hospitals Group envisaged for reaching world-class healthcare to semi-urban and rural India, its Executive Chairman Dr Prathap C Reddy said.

He said often, people from semi-urban and rural areas travel all the way to speciality hospitals situated in metros for treatement, which was always not feasible, especially during emergencies.

''The Apollo Reach Hospitals would be set up across semi-urban and rural India taking healthcare of international standards closer to every Indian,'' he added.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who was the Guest of Honour, laid the foundation stone for another Reach Hospital in Karakkudi in Tamil Nadu from where Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram hails. He lauded the doctors at Apollo Hospitals here as perfect examples of doctors providing treatment to their patients ''with genuine love and care''.

Besides Mr Chidambaram, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss was also present.

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