The Apollo Story
The establishment of Apollo Hospitals arose from Dr. Prathap C. Reddy’s belief that Indian patients should have access to advanced treatment within the country instead of being compelled to travel overseas for complex medical care. At that time, several highly specialised treatments were either unavailable in India or concentrated in a limited number of public institutions. Building a private hospital with modern infrastructure, trained specialists and international clinical standards meant overcoming significant regulatory, financial and operational challenges.
Dr. Reddy introduced the concept of the Master Health Check in India during the mid-1970s. The group has since performed millions of preventive health assessments, continued today through the digitally supported Apollo ProHealth programme.
On 18 September 1983, Apollo opened its first hospital in Chennai — India’s first corporate hospital. It demonstrated that advanced tertiary care could be organised through a professionally managed private healthcare model, and contributed to the subsequent growth of private multi-speciality hospitals across India.
In November 1998, Apollo’s transplant team performed India’s first successful liver transplant — the recipient a 20-month-old child who received part of his father’s liver. The Government of India later issued commemorative postal stamps recognising this milestone and Apollo’s wider contribution to healthcare.
Apollo inaugurated the Apollo Proton Cancer Centre in Chennai — the first proton-therapy centre in South Asia and the Middle East, expanding access to highly precise radiation treatment for selected cancers.
Launched in June 2020, Apollo 24|7 connects online consultations, medicine delivery, diagnostics and digital health records. By FY2024–25 the platform reported approximately 40 million registered users and a network of around 12,000 doctors for online consultations.
Apollo introduced what it describes as India’s first AI Precision Oncology Centre, using artificial intelligence and clinical data to support oncologists in treatment planning and clinical decision-making.
By its 42nd anniversary in September 2025, Apollo reported having completed more than 5.1 million surgeries and 27,000 organ transplants, and trained more than 1.1 million healthcare workers across four decades.