Dr. Umapathy Panyala, CEO, Apollo Hospitals Group, Karnataka is our next speaker, and he plans to run us through the entrepreneurial journey of Apollo Hospitals. His current role entails strategy & execution of the hospital network in Karnataka and developing the US, Europe and Asia Pacific markets. Dr. Panyala transitioned into management after 10 years of medical practice. He has spent 17 years at Apollo and seen it grow from a modest beginning in 1983, 150-beds to 8500-beds across 50 hospitals in India and overseas. He has also worked as CEO of Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital, a JV between the Karnataka Government and Apollo Hospitals. He is from the Hyderabad Public School, has an MBA from Symbiosis University, Pune and a Masters in Hospital Administration from the National University of Singapore.
Understanding how Apollo Hospitals became a National and International brand in Healthcare is not just interesting to all entrepreneurs, but we hope it will also provide specific pointers to entrepreneurs who are looking to launch projects in the Healthcare space.
“Apollo Hospitals – The Entrepreneurial Journey”, told the story of how this once-upon-a-time Startup launched with a simple goal in mind – to provide quality care in India (a factor assumed to be a hygiene factor out in the west) and built massive hospital infrastructure and reach over 30 years. This Startup leveraged technology, local infrastructure and other factors to deliver same-quality care at a fraction of what it would cost in most western countries. One amazing fact from the presentation was that Dr. Reddy (founder of Apollo Hospitals) was 52 when he launched his company, underlining once again that age cannot and should not dissuade the persuit of entrepreneurship. Other key takeaways: 1. “StarTrek” -like medical devices are not science fiction, they are already here, and they should be leveraged. 2. “Mindset” of older doctors and patients is the number one challenge for technology adoption. 3. Regulation will always be outdated, and many minefields cannot be discovered without launching and pushing the envelope.
