Government signs MOU with the hospital chain for ‘Swastha Bharat’  

Apollo Hospital Touches a Billion Lives For SEHAT

New Delhi, August 26:  PM Modi government and Apollo hospital chain will walk together on Information Highway to make whole of India healthy.

While launching hospital chain’s mega telemedicine initiative SEHAT, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad committed that digital India would entail empowerment of every patient in India. He promised that Modi government would leave no stone unturned to diminish the gap between haves and have-nots in healthcare through digital outreach.

This telemedicine facility will be available to anyone who pays just Rs. 100 and will include quality consultation by experts of Apollo in his own village or panchayat. In time, diagnostics and generic medicine will also accompany this initiative.

In first collaboration of its kind with a corporate hospital chain launched Tuesday (August 25) in India Habitat Centre, Modi government at the centre has expressed its utmost trust in Apollo hospital for its Swasth Bharat (Healthy India) Mission. The SEHAT (Social Endeavor for Health and Telemedicine) initiative will connect 60,000 Common Service Centers (CSC) established by the central government across the country to a common network and provide healthcare access to millions of citizens irrespective of geographical location or connectivity.

This mega venture is billed as being able to completely transform healthcare in India and making quality healthcare ubiquitous. Apollo has already done it through its telemedicine network in Africa at the behest of late ex-president of India APJ Abdul Kalam.

With this, Apollo hospital chain’s avowed dream of touching one billion lives takes a giant leap. This venture gives the hospital chain a great opportunity to showcase its altruistic intentions. The minister expressed profound hope that SEHAT will unleash an exemplary transformation of healthcare in India and emerge as a model for the whole world.

Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman Apollo Hospitals said: SEHAT shall connect the largest population of our country on a common network to deliver tele-health services. Apollo Hospitals has always been committed to providing the DIGITAL DIVIDEND to all Indians. We are very proud to have launched India’s first telemedicine centre in 2000 which was launched in Aragonda and it was inaugurated by the then President of the United States, Mr Bill Clinton. Through our PM Narendra Modi’s digital India initiative more Indians shall get access to e-services and we are delighted to be a partner with the GOI in this path breaking endeavour to link SEHAT to 60,000 CSC’s.

Ms. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals said: Telemedicine can provide rural population access for basic, specialty and super specialty consultations. Since 80% of conditions do not require a doctor’s physical presence immediately, they can be dealt with through telemedicine. Most lifestyle and communicable diseases fall into this category. It is indeed a privilege for us to work with the Government of India. A history has been created by the starte of this world’s largest  telemedicine program in the world.

The Apollo Group launched the first telemedicine centre in the country in 2000. Through this, the hospital has been able to reach geographically remote and inaccessible regions of the country and the world to better enable the reach of medical treatment. The Group operates one of the country’s largest telemedicine networks and has partnered with the Indian Space Research Organization, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Governments from the Africa, CIS and Pacific Rim nations to provide access to quality medical services.