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hospitals outside the US by focussing on the needs of developing nations and international visitors. About 10-15 percent of Apollo’s total patients constitute medical tourists. They have treated about 100,000 international patients. Apollo caters to about 60 countries, including medical tourists from developed countries such as the US, the UK, and Canada.
Apollo’s network also include retail pharmacies across India, and ‘Health and Lifestyle Franchise Clinics,’ with global presence in developing countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Ghana, and Nigeria, and developed countries such as the UAE, the UK, and Saudi Arabia. Apollo offers everything from hospital back-office data processing to surgery in a chain of 38 hospitals, with over 7,000 beds across Asia. It has a range of customised packages exclusively developed to cater to the needs of a diverse cross-section of individuals. The specialists in Apollo have performed about 200,000 major surgeries of various kinds.
Strategy#4: Address the “Growing Pains”
Development brings with it many challenges and growing pains. The path to development is often lined with political and economic
turbulence, strains on fragile infrastructure and environmental challenges. AIDS/HIV is a growing concern in many developing countries, including India.
Estimates by UNAIDS/WHO for 2006 year-end indicate about 39.5 million people globally suffering from the silent killer. Of these, adults amount to 37.2 million. Young people (below 25 years)
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account for half of all HIV infections globally. In South Africa and Zambia, about 15-20 percent of adults are infected with AIDS. In the US, AIDS has killed more than half a million people, with about 40,000 new HIV infections annually. The Indian condom-manufacturing company, Hindustan Latex Ltd. (HLL), has been developing solutions to address the “growing pains” of the developing (86 percent) as well developed nations (14 percent) of the world. About 75 percent of the company’s total production is supplied to the government and international institutions like the UN, WHO, IDA, etc. HLL is targeting to achieve sales of Rs. 10 billion by 2012, considering that around 2.5 million people in India are affected with AIDS and 70 percent of Indian population are less than 30 years of age, of whom one-third are potential users of the product. HLL’s sales went up from Rs.1.05 billion in 2000-02 to Rs. 2.43 billion in 2005-06. Also, about 100 million pieces of condoms are exported to the African continent, where the fear of AIDS looms large. Today, HLL has emerged as the largest condom manufacturer in the world, with a production of about a billion pieces per year.
India: An Emerging Economy Offering 86 Percent Solutions
Indian entrepreneurs, providers of 14 percent solutions hitherto, are fast emerging as dominant providers of solutions to the 86 percent world, as can be seen in cell ‘B’ of Figure 1. Indian entrepreneurs are coming up with innovative and cost-effective solutions to problems. The 86 percent solution is competitive, quality-driven, and economical. |
