Apollo Hospital Group will soon start five standalone paediatric hospitals in various parts of the country and another one abroad. The group has set apart an investment of Rs 25 crore for the project and it is in the process of identifying the possible locations.

Aiming to provide quality paediatric care to children and adolescents up to the age of 16 and to treat them under one roof, the hospital group has inaugurated one such standalone children's hospital in Chennai recently. While inaugurating the facility, the chairman of the hospital group had disclosed its plan of starting five more such hospitals in the country. According to him, Apollo has excelled in medical innovation and world class clinical services & research.

Each hospital, with full fledged diagnostic facilities, will have approximately 75 to 100 beds. The paediatric hospital in Chennai has a built up area of 39,000 sq.ft.

The facilities include a neonatology care unit, paediatric intensive care facilities, state of the art operation rooms including facility for complex cardiac surgeries, procedure rooms, laboratory services and dedicated clinics for chronic ailments.

Further to this, it consists of other areas such as preventive healthcare unit, centre for developmental disorders and counselling services, an NICU, Isolation ward, three operation theatres, sunshine ward, cheerful private rooms and tasteful suites. The hospital is staffed with 45 paediatric specialists and over 180 nurses, sources said.

Super-speciality services offered at the Children's Hospital includes Paediatric Cardiology, Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Paediatric Surgery [including Laparoscopic surgery], Paediatric Urology, Paediatric Neurology & Neuro Surgery, Paediatric Nephrology, Paediatric Orthopaedics and Paediatric Gastroenterology.

The sources claimed that while the Paediatric Oncology unit focused on the management of childhood cancers, it was the only paediatric hospital in Chennai to function with full-time consultants who would ensure availability and access to the best medical talent round the clock. The doctors are supported by standardized care protocols that help deliver the best and most consistent paediatric care, they said.

Chairman of the hospital group Dr. Prathap C Reddy, while delivering a speech on the occasion of the Chennai hospital said, "Apollo Children's Hospital is unique due to the wealth of disciplines all under one roof. Our first standalone paediatric quaternary care multi-specialty hospital, it is a perfect combination of global best practices along with the optimum mix of clinical care, cutting edge research and detailed learning. We intend to use Apollo Children's Hospital as a model and expand the concept further."

Apollo is nationally accredited for paediatric post graduate and critical care programmes. All of this rich learning is evident in every facet of the Apollo Children's Hospital. Scientific publications and presentations on various paediatric subspecialties are an ongoing feature among our highly qualified staff.