Apollo to invest Rs 1000 cr in 15 new hospitals

Medical care services provider Apollo Hospital's group on Wednesday said it will be investing about Rs 1,000 crore in the next 18 months to set up about 15 hospitals in tier II and III cities in India.

The hospital chain, which is looking for an overseas expansions, is also planning to re-enter Sri Lanka besides expanding its operations in African continents.

"The idea is to set up tertiary hospitals in tier II and III cities, we plan to set up about 15 hospitals in next 18 months with an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore," Apollo Hospitals Group Chairman Prathap C Reddy said in New Delhi on the sidelines of CII annual session.

He said on average these hospitals would have around 200 beds and in the next 18 months, the group is looking at 10,000-bed capacity.

Commenting on overseas expansions, Reddy said, the group is planning to re-enter Sri Lanka again.

"We have written to the Sri Lankan government and this time around, we will have 51 per cent or more stake," Reddy said.

Apollo hospitals earlier had operations in Sri Lanka in which they had minority stake and it had to abandon the project following the take-over by the Sri Lankan business tycoon Harry Jayawardene.