9000 doctors of Apollo Hospitals to pledge their support to camps on the 9th of every month across India with guidance from State Governments
Chennai, May 27, 2016: Inspired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister Modi’s clarion call to doctors in the country, the entire medical fraternity of Apollo Hospitals was encouraged to pledge their support to devote a day every month for service across urban, semi-urban and rural geographies with guidance from the State Governments.
The announcement made by the Prime Minister to raise the retirement age to 65 including appeal to doctors to attend to poor pregnant women on the ninth of every month comes at a time when the country is grappling with limited manpower and infrastructure to tackle the rising incidences of NCD’s.
Making the announcement, Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals said, “The Hon’ble Prime Minister made a clarion call to the medical fraternity and as a responsible healthcare provider, Apollo Hospitals will conduct camps on the 9th of every month with guidance from the State Governments. Personally, I will participate in this national service endeavour and will also urge all my clinicians to devote a day each month for this laudable programme, which translates to over a million man hours of clinical talent a year. This initiative, I believe, will soon transform the healthcare status of India.”
With guidance from the State Governments, on the 9th of every month, Apollo Hospitals will provide consultations to patients. Teams comprising of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists, Paediatricians, Internal Medicine experts and General Surgeons will provide expertise through these camps across the country through its 64 hospitals. According to reports from WHO, India has one doctor for every 1,600 persons, while the recommendation is one per 1000 at the very least.
Dr Reddy also added, “India has close to 65 million diabetics, twice the number of pre-diabetics, over a million new cases of cancer are detected each year and coronary heart disease is on the rise with poor lifestyles. We are witnessing the growth in lifestyle diseases across urban and rural India and I believe that the medical camps with guidance from the State Governments will help the nation wage war against this disease burden.
