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Apollo Hospitals threatening jobs in US: WSJ
Wednesday April 28 2004 00:00 IST
PTI

WASHINGTON : Apollo Hospital 's emergence as a global health care provider in many ways tracks India 's economic trajectory over the past three decades, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has said.

The company had capitalised on the high cost of health care administration in US and demands of patients elsewhere, for "fast, inexpensive treatment" with the most modern equipment, the Wall Street Journal said in the article "India's new coup in outsourcing: Inpatient care".

It cited the experience of Terry Salo, a former commercial fisherman, who faced a wait of a year or more for free care from Canada 's National Health Services.

The pain became intolerable and he paid $4,500, one fourth of the cost for treatment in Europe or US, for surgery at Apollo. Salo is one of 60,000 foreign patients treated at Apollo Hospitals over the past three years.

Since its start as a single hospital, in 1983, Apollo has grown to 37 hospitals and one of Asia 's largest private hospital chains.

Hundreds of Apollo's data processors, says the paper, work late-night shifts providing billing services and processing insurance claims for US hospitals and insurers. Apollo laboratories perform clinical trials for Western companies such as Pfizer and Eli Lilly.

Apollo's range of medical services, said the paper, highlighted the contradictions of the global outsourcing debate. In seeking to provide a range of services at a large discount to Western competitors, Apollo is yet another Indian company threatening jobs in US and other countries.

On the other hand, Apollo's relatively inexpensive medical services have benefited patients from several nations besides helping India 's overburdened health care system, the Wall Street Journal said.

"We are showing that a field like medicine is very much a two-way street," said Dr Prathap C Reddy, the founder of Apollo Hospitals. "We can all grow from each other's strengths," he added.

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Sunil Sharma, P.Eng.