A new 250-bed hospital, Apollo-Sagar being set up at a cost of Rs 70 crore in Bangalore will be opened in March-April 2002. The hospital is a joint venture between the Chennai-based Apollo Hospital Group and the Bangalore-based Sagar Group. Apollo Group will run the hospital under a management contract.

In the last one year Bangalore has witnessed the opening of three large hospitals by the private sector namely Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences [Rs 500 crore], Narayana Hrudayalaya [Rs 200 crore], Trinity Hospital and Heart Foundation [Rs. 10 crore] and one by the government which is the new premises of the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, a Karnataka government initiative set up at Rs 100 crore.

In 2003, Wockhardt Hospital and Heart Institute will have its new 200 bed facility in the city. The total investments in hospitals in Bangalore alone is Rs 1000 crore in the last one year which includes new establishments and massive state-of-the-art expansions by the existing government, private and missionary hospitals.

Apollo Sagar Hospital, a multi-specialty medical centre is located on the Bannerghatta Road which is close to the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology has 1.10 lakh sq.ft of floor space, five major and two minor operating theatres, 45 intensive care units and a separate fully equipped diagnostic centre. "Our aim is to provide the best medical facility at the reasonable cost," said Dr. D Prema Chandra Sagar, vice chairman, Sagar Group.

The hospital will have facilities to treat all critical illnesses and surgery cases at lower costs than the best in the country, claims Dr. Prema Chandra Sagar. "A by-pass surgery for instance will cost around Rs. 1.30 lakh [all inclusive] in the general ward as against Rs. 1.50 lakh to Rs. 1.80 lakh in the other well known hospitals in the country.

There will also be six residential suites for well-to-do patients each with two bed rooms, one drawing room and a pantry, colour TV, computer with Internet facility where family members can stay with the patient. In addition, it will have 20 deluxe rooms with colour TVs and computers and 78 semi private rooms. When fully operational, the hospital will have 450 medical and para medical staff and 150 personnel manning administration, accounts and other services.

Leading medical specialists from other Apollo Hospitals in Chennai and Hyderabad will visit the hospital periodically.

Apollo Sagar will also have 15 state-of-the-art ambulances called 'Hospital on Wheels' fitted with life saving equipment and manned by doctors and nurses. The hospital's emergency services will be connected through wireless phones to the ambulances who will be stationed at 15 locations in Bangalore so that they can reach patients at the shortest possible time.

The Sagar Group is well known in Bangalore for its educational and healthcare forays, although the latter has been a recent thrust for the Group. Two brothers who run the medical centres, Dr. Prema Chandra and Hema Chandra, are both qualified doctors. Their mother, Dr. Chandramma Sagar was a triple FRCS from England and served as a personal doctor of the president of India.

The Group already runs a 100 bed Chandra Nursing Home which is being converted into a specialty hospital for mother and child. Work will also start on a new 400-bed secondary care facility in Bangalore for general illness and cater mainly to the economical weaker sections. There will be a medical college attached to it.

For healthcare alone, the Sagar Group intends to invest Rs 300 crore to touch a total bed capacity of 1000-beds in five years times. Plans are afoot to set-up a cancer hospital on a 10-acre land at Channasandra on the Bangalore-Mysore Road.

The Group is toying with the idea of setting up on a 24 care land in the outskirts of Bangalore and a health rehabilitation and rejuvenating centre where alternative methods of treatments like Ayurveda or homeopathy will be adopted to regenerates the ailing patients.

While the Sagar Group has an annual turnover of Rs 180 crore and an asset base of Rs 400 crore, the Apollo Group, which is the largest healthcare group in the country, has a turnover of Rs 600 crore. Incepted in 1983, the Apollo Group runs 40 owned and managed hospitals/ clinics with over 50 specialty and super-specialty services and a total bed strength of 5,000. In addition, Apollo Group has 1,500 specialists spanning 60 medical departments of patient care and employs 10,000 professionals including 2,000 in various administrative positions.