Apollo Cancer Institutes, an integral part of the Apollo Hospitals Group has joined hands with YOUWECAN, founded by Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, on December 3, 2012, at Kolkata, with an objective to organize mass Cancer Screening Programs across various locations in India.  

An exclusive center for Bariatric Surgery has been launched at Apollo Hospitals Chennai on 26 November 2012, aimed at holistic healthcare for patients dealing with obesity & metabolic syndromes. Every obese individual’s needs are different and our group of highly trained specialists will analyze and tailor the management protocols that best suits them. With literally all modalities of surgical and non-surgical options available at the Centre, coupled with our enviable safety record, our patients are +indeed assured of a safe journey with us during their weight loss process. With department guidelines based on international standards, we will soon have India’s first integrated theater system for laparoscopy, Robotics, SILS and NOTES surgeries all under one platform, specially designed rooms and patient facilities including cots, chairs and transport devices to help our obese patients have a comfortable experience with us. With a dedicated team of specialists, nursing and support staff, Apollo Bariatric Institute is indeed a world class facility and one of the most advanced Bariatric centers in the country.  

In a first of its kind initiative the e-Educational Services Wing of Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation made available the 2 day Educational Course conducted by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies to Neurosurgeons in Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Maduraiwho gathered at the auditoriums of the Apollo Hospitals in these cities. The programme consisting of 35 lectures by 20 speakers from 10 different countries included “”How I do it Sessions””. The conference was organized by Apollo Hospitals Bhubaneshwar with Dr.Brig Sahoo, Neurosurgeon as the Organizing Secretary and Mr.Subodh Singh as coordinator. Delivering the inaugural address thro Video conferencing, Dr. Prathap C. Reddy Founder Chairman of the Apollo Hospitals Group stressed the necessity to keep up to date. Half life of medical knowledge is 4-5 years, he remarked. He complimented Prof. Dr. K. Ganapathy Neurosurgeon and President of ATNF and his team for this innovative effort of providing an international CME programme at various cities and even directly to the doctors’ laptops (the program was also webcast making it available to 38,000 neurosurgeons representing 126 national societies). Apollo Hospitals has during the last three years carried out more than 200 tele grand rounds within the Group. This is in addition to the 260 lectures given to 39 countries in Africa as part of the Pan African eNetwork. About 50 public lectures also have been given to various factory townships thro video conferencing.  

An 11-year-old girl who suffered acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) becomes the first pediatric patient in South India to have successfully recovered by the useof artificial heart-lung by-pass machine known as ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) at Apollo Children Hospital. The child was transferred to Apollo Children’s Hospital few weeks earlier, due to progressive pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Her condition quickly worsened as there was a rapid loss in the functioning of her lung leading to drastic drop of oxygen levels and her liver showed signs of decreased function. Hence as a final option, the Child was put on ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation). Though ECMO has been used in adult cases in the past, for the first time in South India, the technology has saved a pediatric patient, who was suffering from a life threatening pneumonia to give her a chance to survive and quicker recovery. According to Dr. Paul Ramesh, Consultant Cardiothoracic surgeon and ECMO coordinator, Apollo Hospitals, “As the ventilators were of no support to the child, we had to put her on to the ECMO where her affected lung was put to complete rest and was given time to heal, managing the ECMO was the most challenging task as it has to be monitored 24×7. It required an organized effort of team experts including cardiac surgeons, pulmonologists, anesthetists, critical care specialists, physiotherapists and nursing staff”. He also added, “ECMO is a type of heart-lung pump that provides support when a child’s heart or lungs fail to work properly or need to rest. By taking over the work of the heart and lungs, the machine gives a child’s heart or lungs a chance to recover. To initiate ECMO, catheters are placed in large blood vessels to provide access to the patient’s blood stream. Anticoagulant drugs are given to prevent blood clotting. The ECMO machine continuously removes blood from the patient and performs gas exchange, much like artificial lungs, before returning the blood to the patient”. Elaborating on the successful pediatric ECMO, Dr. Suchitra Ranjith, Senior Consultant Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Apollo Children’s Hospitals said, “The story of the child’s astonishing success is the triumph of highly advanced and diverse specialties coming together and gelling as a coherent team. It was a collective effort to pull her back from heaven.” Dr. Indira Jayakumar, Senior Consultant Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Apollo Children’s Hospitals said, “It is the Final Frontier, the only option when all conventional therapies to improve lungs or heart function fail, but like any other forms of treatment , the key is to initiate it early enough . It can be useful following lung damage by H1N1 infection too. It is however pointless in terminal or incurable diseases.” The child was taken off the ECMO machine after 6 days of treatment and was discharged in a fully fit condition on few days ago. Apollo Children Hospitals gave her a gift of life on her 12th birth day (The day she was discharged). What is ECMO ? Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) is an advanced technology, which ensures that oxygen goes in and carbon dioxide is taken out of the body for patients who have heart or lung failure or both. It delivers oxygen and support to the heart by a modified heart -lung machine in the ICU. ECMO is a temporary life support system that allows time for evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of the condition that caused heart or lung failure. It performs the work of the lungs and heart and prevents organs and the patient from dying during healing and ECMO supports the patient for days to weeks. The ECMO technology has a proven track record in a variety of conditions especially with respect to children and it requires a dedicated team of medical and paramedical experts with round the clock bedside care.    

In association with the Billion Hearts Beating Foundation, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals organised a 5-km run titled ‘Dil ki Daud’. In the wee hours of Sunday, more than 2,000 people participated in the 5-km run, which kicked off at 6:45 am. India’s first blade runner and Kargil War amputee hero – also participated in order to encourage the runners for a healthy living. India’s first blade runner and Kargil War hero Retd Major Devender Pal Singh along with Former Wrestler of India, Satpal Singh and the famous Cricketer, Gurusharan Singh also participated in order to encourage the runners for a healthy living. Organized to spread awareness about heart diseases, it aimed to bring people together and motivate the community to take the necessary steps towards a healthy lifestyle. The Healthy Heart run witnessed enthusiastic participation from school and college students, RWA members, various corporate houses, delegates from embassies, the staff of Apollo Hospitals as well as other citizens. Said Mr Jaideep Gupta, Managing Director, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals: “Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has always promoted initiatives that foster healthy living. The objective behind supporting such a run is to spread awareness about the tangible benefits of exercise and encourage positive action. This is the third consecutive year that we have organised the run to promote healthy living and we are overwhelmed by the response and support from residents of neighbouring colonies, school and college students as well as our staff.” The biggest killer in urban India today, heart disease kills about 12 million people every year. According to the WHO, while the rest of the world enters the heart attack zone at around 55 years, Indians become susceptible as early as 35 years of age. Heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives annually, with the numbers rising year on year. By 2030, it is expected that 23 million people will die annually due to cardiovascular diseases. “The Billion Hearts Beating” campaign is a crusade to reverse this global menace. In order to address this concern, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals brought together about 2,000 people from New Delhi and the NCR, which included areas such as Defence Colony, GK-I, Ashram, Friends Colony, New Friends Colony, Sarita Vihar, Jasola Vihar, Sukhdev Vihar, Jamia, and adjoining places. A dedicated team of doctors was present throughout the run to provide first aid and offer suggestions on how to maintain a healthy heart and body. The winners were presented with medals, while all finishers received certificates.  

Preethi Suryavansh, 14, of Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra was born with a lumbar spine defect; her upper torso was curved towards her right from when she could remember. Her dream came true on Saturday morning, when she stood up after an eight-hour surgery. “”I had always imagined how things would be if I could stand and see straight. For the first time I could look into my mother’s eyes, stand as tall as her,”” she said with an excited smile. Preethi’s parents Mangesh and Saritha took her to almost every neurosurgeon in Maharshtra before one in Thane referred her to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai. Doctors of Apollo Hospitals assured them they would use a newly-introduced robot that virtually ruled out any errors that could result in nerve or aortic damage. The Renaissance Robot, manufactured by Mazor Robotics, tells surgeons where exactly screws have to be inserted and in what angle during a spinal surgery. “”The machine is fed with all the scans and images, along with the patients’ nerve composition. With its accuracy being close to 1 mm, it rules out damage to her nerves and organs,”” said neurosurgeon Dr Sajan K Hegde, who is trained to use the robot. The robot, the size of a 250ml soft drink can, moves like a capsule across the patient’s back, ensuring that screws and plates are inserted leaving no margin for error.  

Apollo Hospitals performed a complex spinal surgery on a 10-year-old child. This was the 12th successful surgery done within 10 days of the launch of Renaissance Robotic Technology – the only technology specifically designed for spine surgery. Apollo Hospitals Group is the first in the Asia-Pacific to offer this minimally-invasive robotic-guided surgical guidance system for spine surgery. A 10-year-old from Gujarat, Heema was born with congenital anomalies that left her with a severely deformed spine. Before being admitted to Apollo Hospitals, the child had already undergone multiple procedures that had failed and left her with rods placed in her back, broken at multiple places, and a spine that was grotesquely deformed. The doctors’ team faced several challenges in treating the child. But RenaissanceTM Robotic Technology allowed a successful spinal fixation with extreme precision and safety in carrying out the delicate maneuver to correct the deformed spine. A child otherwise doomed to go through life with the severe deformity -which could have led to premature death due to cardiopulmonary failure or eventual paralysis – can now lead a normal life like any other 10-year-old. “After a comprehensive 18 months study of Mazor Robotics’ RenaissanceTM in Europe and the USA, we found this to be the safest, most accurate minimally-invasive technology for spinal surgical procedures. This technology helped us in treating Heema, ensuring less pain, smaller incisions, shorter hospitalizations and faster recovery for the child. Conventional forms of such surgeries are more challenging due to the surgeon’s lack of direct line-of-vision, requiring many intra-operative X-rays to compensate for this. The Spinal Robot overcomes these challenges, providing patients with the best possible clinical results and with minimal intra-operative radiation to both patients and surgeons,” said Dr Sajan K Hedge, Head of Spine Unit at Apollo Hospitals. Foreign patients have also benefitted from this treatment at Apollo Hospitals. Two young patients from Oman were admitted with severe back pain, which was also running down both their legs. Both patients had previously taken non-operative treatment in Oman, without any relief whatsoever. One of the patients was 36-year-old Sulaiman Mohammad, who had suffered pain for more than two years, which then began affecting his regular activities. Both patients underwent Robot-assisted minimally-invasive spine surgery. After the surgery, both have been free of pain and are now walking normally. Dr Prathap C Reddy, Chairman of Apollo Hospital said: “Robotics and minimally-invasive surgeries have been a strong focus for Apollo Hospital in recent years. We believe in providing the best medical technologies for our patients. Once we recognized the positive impact that Spinal Robotics would have on patient outcomes, the decision was easy to bring in this technical marvel with close cooperation from our Robotics technology partner Advanced Medical Systems (AMS) Singapore. AMS has also developed with us ‘The CyberKnife’ Robotic Radio surgery project successfully at Apollo Cancer Specialty Hospital, Chennai. This is a Rs30-crore cancer therapy system, successfully treating patients for the past three years with extreme tumour-targeted precision. The Spinal Robotics will likewise offer precision, accuracy and minimally-invasive spinal surgery at Apollo Hospitals.” Apollo Hospital is a referral centre for spine surgeries and a pioneer in minimally-invasive surgeries. The facility also has a reputation as an established leader in spine surgery as well as in adopting the latest technologies for patient care. “As demand for quality healthcare grows, medical device analysts are projecting robust growth rates in the Asia-Pacific region, with recent reports indicating medical device growth rate of 23% in India alone,”stated Romesh Kaul, President and Chief Executive Officer, Advanced Medical Systems Pvt Ltd (AMS), turnkey technology systems and services provider of Renaissance Spinal Robotics System to Apollo Hospitals.  

Business Today initiated the concept ‘Most Powerful women in business’ in the year 2004 to recognize and felicitate women from the corporate world, who have achieved strong results in their respective fields. The event felicitates the 25 most powerful women in Indian business and salutes the spirit of successful business women with a special issue on ‘Most Powerful Women in Indian Business’. Ms. Preetha Reddy, Managing Director Apollo Hospitals, featuring in Business Today’s 9th listing of the Most Powerful Women in Indian Business, says, “”The primary responsibility of a health-care provider is to offer uncompromised clinical excellence to patients. Today, many hospitals in India have followed us and got themselves accredited. This has been immensely satisfying as a pioneering step taken by Apollo is once again impacting the standards of health care across India.””  

Apollo Gleneagles, Kolkata has won “”Institute for Competitiveness”” Mini Strategy Award during the Inaugural Porter Prize edition in India on 29th Sep 2012. ‘Institute for Competitiveness’,India is the Indian knot in the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School. ‘Institute for Competitiveness’, India is an international initiative centred in India, dedicated to enlarging and purposeful disseminating of the body of research and knowledge on competition and strategy, as pioneered over the last 25 years by Professor Michael Porter of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School.  

“New Delhi, 28 September 2012: Having successfully conducted over 130,000 cardiac surgeries – among the highest by any centre globally – coupled with a success rate of 99.6%, Apollo Hospitals Group took a step forward in achieving its objective to create awareness in India about the pertinent risks posed by cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Apollo Hospitals under the Billion Hearts Beating programme initiated by the visionary Padma Vibhushan Dr Prathap C Reddy, Executive Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, has been working tirelessly in achieving this goal and spreading the message of ‘healthy heart’ amongst the population of the country. Calling for urgent action from the world community, Dr Prathap C Reddy, Executive Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “”I urge every citizen to wake up to this alarming situation and join hands with us to pledge for a healthy heart by following five simple steps – get active, eat healthy, quit smoking, beat stress and get regular health checks.”” Apollo Hospitals has been at the forefront of fighting the menace of CVDs right since the early 80s. The Heart Institutes at Apollo Hospitals India forms one of the largest groups of Cardiology and Cardio-Thoracic Surgery in the world, having completed over 130,000 heart surgeries with success rates comparable to the best in the world. Apollo Hospitals pioneered customized health checks thereby preventing and diagnosing at early stages diseases and their major risk factors. Making its contribution to creating greater awareness as well as highlighting issues related to CVDs, Apollo Hospitals has organized several activities across its hospital network in the country. From heart check camps to CMEs, healthy heart talks in schools, free screening for blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and body mass index, etc. Apollo Hospitals is collaborating with the citizens of the country to promote the cause of a healthy heart. The Group aims to educate, inspire change and create a call to action all across the country to take the first step towards heart health. These activities will culminate with the “Dil Ki Daud” in the national capital region on 7th October 2012. “God has given us a tremendous organ in the form of the heart, which beats right from birth to the last breath. But unfortunately over the last two decades we are noticing that heart diseases are becoming rampant. We are noticing that the onset of heart diseases is both increasing as well as setting in at much younger ages”, Dr Reddy said. CVDs are currently the leading cause of death in urban and rural India. It is also estimated that by 2020, India will have the largest cardiovascular burden globally, accounting for almost one-third deaths. Studies over the last 60 years show an alarmingly high rate of coronary heart disease and premature heart disease among Indians. It is estimated that Indians are nearly four times more susceptible to heart attacks than Caucasians, with 25% of attacks happening to people under the age of 40 – unheard of in other populations. Indians are genetically predisposed to attract heart ailments and the present day’s lifestyle is lowering the age of heart ailments.. According to WHO, while the rest of the world enters the heart attack zone at around 55 years, Indians unfortunately are getting there as early as 35. Heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year and the numbers are rising. By 2030, it is expected that 23 million people will die from CVDs annually. Billion Hearts Beating is a crusade against this infamy. Attributing the rising incidence of CVDs to irregular lifestyles, Dr Reddy added, “”Fast-paced lifestyle changes and soaring stress levels are one of the foremost contributors to the alarming rise in such cases not just in India but worldwide. Since diseases such as heart ailments, strokes, are preventable, it is important to spread awareness about their risk factors, such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, excess tobacco and alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyles and obesity. Preventive measures are crucial because such diseases disturb the wellbeing of families; disrupt the social fabric and lower national productivity, since many afflicted people fall within the productive age group. Public outreach and awareness campaigns are imperative in the fight against cardiovascular diseases.”” CVDs are largely preventable. Both, population wide measures and improved access to individual health care interventions can result in a major reduction in the health and socioeconomic burden caused by these diseases and their risk factors. Indians are genetically predisposed to attract heart ailments and the present day’s lifestyle is lowering the age of heart ailments and taking an increasing number of youth into its cruel fold. Dr. M.R. Girinath, Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals Group said “Coronary heart disease is assuming epidemic proportions in our country and we already have a prevalence of over 12% in our adult urban population. If we want to halt this epidemic we need to do what Western countries have done — focus on prevention involving the control of risk factors that promote the development of this dread disease. After treating thousands of patients over the past three decades, I am convinced that it is better to avoid getting the disease by practicing prevention, than to get the disease and have it treated by palliative forms of treatment such as percutaneous coronary interventions with stents or with Coronary artery bypass surgery. In my opinion, prevention of coronary artery disease is superior to palliative cure.” Started in April 2010 by Apollo Hospitals Group, Billion Hearts Beating is a movement to promote heart health across India by creating awareness about heart disease, its causes, symptoms, preventive measures, care and treatment. Subsequently it was established as an independent, not-for-profit foundation to help India become heart-healthy. The campaign has already reached millions of people across the country. Over 3.5 lakh people have already taken a pledge to lead a heart healthy life on www.billionheartsbeating.com. The campaign sets out to not only create awareness but also provide tailor-made solutions of cardiovascular problems to specific segments – kids, youth senior citizens, working professionals, armed forces and women. It was in the same year that Dr. Prathap Reddy was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan award by the Government of India, for his excellence and exceptional service in the Healthcare industry in the country. About Apollo Hospitals: In 1983, Dr Prathap C Reddy, the architect of Indian healthcare, launched the first corporate hospital in India, Apollo Hospitals Chennai. Over the years, Apollo Hospitals Group has grown to become one of Asia’s largest integrated healthcare organizations with over 8,500 beds across 50 hospitals, more than 1350 pharmacies and over 100 diagnostic clinics. The Group also offers medical business process outsourcing services, health insurance services and clinical research divisions with a focus on epidemiological studies, stem cell research and genetic research. To develop talent for the burgeoning need of superior healthcare delivery, Apollo Hospitals Group has 11 nursing and hospital management colleges. These achievements have earned Apollo Hospitals Group several accolades, including the Centre of Excellence from the Government of India and recognition from the Joint Commission International (seven of our hospitals are JCI accredited). In a rare honour, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in recognition of Apollo’s contribution, the first for a healthcare organization. Apollo Hospitals Chairman, Dr Prathap C Reddy, was conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, in 2010. Apollo Hospitals Group, for over 28 years, has continuously excelled and maintained leadership in medical innovation, world-class clinical services and cutting-edge technology. Our hospitals are consistently ranked amongst the best hospitals globally for advanced medical services and research. For more information, please visit www.apollohospitals.com    

New Delhi, 28 September 2012: Having successfully conducted over 130,000 cardiac surgeries – among the highest by any centre globally – coupled with a success rate of 99.6%, Apollo Hospitals Group took a step forward in achieving its objective to create awareness in India about the pertinent risks posed by cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Apollo Hospitals under the Billion Hearts Beating programme initiated by the visionary Padma Vibhushan Dr Prathap C Reddy, Executive Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, has been working tirelessly in achieving this goal and spreading the message of ‘healthy heart’ amongst the population of the country. Calling for urgent action from the world community, Dr Prathap C Reddy, Executive Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “I urge every citizen to wake up to this alarming situation and join hands with us to pledge for a healthy heart by following five simple steps – get active, eat healthy, quit smoking, beat stress and get regular health checks.” Apollo Hospitals has been at the forefront of fighting the menace of CVDs right since the early 80s. The Heart Institutes at Apollo Hospitals India forms one of the largest groups of Cardiology and Cardio-Thoracic Surgery in the world, having completed over 130,000 heart surgeries with success rates comparable to the best in the world. Apollo Hospitals pioneered customized health checks thereby preventing and diagnosing at early stages diseases and their major risk factors. Making its contribution to creating greater awareness as well as highlighting issues related to CVDs, Apollo Hospitals has organized several activities across its hospital network in the country. From heart check camps to CMEs, healthy heart talks in schools, free screening for blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and body mass index, etc. Apollo Hospitals is collaborating with the citizens of the country to promote the cause of a healthy heart. The Group aims to educate, inspire change and create a call to action all across the country to take the first step towards heart health. These activities will culminate with the “Dil Ki Daud” in the national capital region on 7th October 2012. “God has given us a tremendous organ in the form of the heart, which beats right from birth to the last breath. But unfortunately over the last two decades we are noticing that heart diseases are becoming rampant. We are noticing that the onset of heart diseases is both increasing as well as setting in at much younger ages”, Dr Reddy said. CVDs are currently the leading cause of death in urban and rural India. It is also estimated that by 2020, India will have the largest cardiovascular burden globally, accounting for almost one-third deaths. Studies over the last 60 years show an alarmingly high rate of coronary heart disease and premature heart disease among Indians. It is estimated that Indians are nearly four times more susceptible to heart attacks than Caucasians, with 25% of attacks happening to people under the age of 40 – unheard of in other populations. Indians are genetically predisposed to attract heart ailments and the present day’s lifestyle is lowering the age of heart ailments.. According to WHO, while the rest of the world enters the heart attack zone at around 55 years, Indians unfortunately are getting there as early as 35. Heart disease and stroke are the world’s leading cause of death, claiming 17.3 million lives each year and the numbers are rising. By 2030, it is expected that 23 million people will die from CVDs annually. Billion Hearts Beating is a crusade against this infamy. Attributing the rising incidence of CVDs to irregular lifestyles, Dr Reddy added, “Fast-paced lifestyle changes and soaring stress levels are one of the foremost contributors to the alarming rise in such cases not just in India but worldwide. Since diseases such as heart ailments, strokes, are preventable, it is important to spread awareness about their risk factors, such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, excess tobacco and alcohol intake, sedentary lifestyles and obesity. Preventive measures are crucial because such diseases disturb the wellbeing of families; disrupt the social fabric and lower national productivity, since many afflicted people fall within the productive age group. Public outreach and awareness campaigns are imperative in the fight against cardiovascular diseases.” CVDs are largely preventable. Both, population wide measures and improved access to individual health care interventions can result in a major reduction in the health and socioeconomic burden caused by these diseases and their risk factors. Indians are genetically predisposed to attract heart ailments and the present day’s lifestyle is lowering the age of heart ailments and taking an increasing number of youth into its cruel fold. Dr. M.R. Girinath, Chief Cardiovascular Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals Group said “Coronary heart disease is assuming epidemic proportions in our country and we already have a prevalence of over 12% in our adult urban population. If we want to halt this epidemic we need to do what Western countries have done — focus on prevention involving the control of risk factors that promote the development of this dread disease. After treating thousands of patients over the past three decades, I am convinced that it is better to avoid getting the disease by practicing prevention, than to get the disease and have it treated by palliative forms of treatment such as percutaneous coronary interventions with stents or with Coronary artery bypass surgery. In my opinion, prevention of coronary artery disease is superior to palliative cure.” Started in April 2010 by Apollo Hospitals Group, Billion Hearts Beating is a movement to promote heart health across India by creating awareness about heart disease, its causes, symptoms, preventive measures, care and treatment. Subsequently it was established as an independent, not-for-profit foundation to help India become heart-healthy. The campaign has already reached millions of people across the country. Over 3.5 lakh people have already taken a pledge to lead a heart healthy life on www.billionheartsbeating.com. The campaign sets out to not only create awareness but also provide tailor-made solutions of cardiovascular problems to specific segments – kids, youth senior citizens, working professionals, armed forces and women. It was in the same year that Dr. Prathap Reddy was conferred with the Padma Vibhushan award by the Government of India, for his excellence and exceptional service in the Healthcare industry in the country. About Apollo Hospitals: In 1983, Dr Prathap C Reddy, the architect of Indian healthcare, launched the first corporate hospital in India, Apollo Hospitals Chennai. Over the years, Apollo Hospitals Group has grown to become one of Asia’s largest integrated healthcare organizations with over 8,500 beds across 50 hospitals, more than 1350 pharmacies and over 100 diagnostic clinics. The Group also offers medical business process outsourcing services, health insurance services and clinical research divisions with a focus on epidemiological studies, stem cell research and genetic research. To develop talent for the burgeoning need of superior healthcare delivery, Apollo Hospitals Group has 11 nursing and hospital management colleges. These achievements have earned Apollo Hospitals Group several accolades, including the Centre of Excellence from the Government of India and recognition from the Joint Commission International (seven of our hospitals are JCI accredited). In a rare honour, the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in recognition of Apollo’s contribution, the first for a healthcare organization. Apollo Hospitals Chairman, Dr Prathap C Reddy, was conferred with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan, in 2010. Apollo Hospitals Group, for over 28 years, has continuously excelled and maintained leadership in medical innovation, world-class clinical services and cutting-edge technology. Our hospitals are consistently ranked amongst the best hospitals globally for advanced medical services and research. For more information, please visit www.apollohospitals.com  

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT) announced that its Board of Directors unanimously voted to elect Preetha Reddy, managing director of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, a division of the Apollo Group, which is one of the largest hospital groups in Asia, to the board as an independent director. In addition to her work as the Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, Ms. Reddy has been prominent in industry and Indian government efforts to advance important health care issues. In 2009, the Prime Minister of India appointed her to serve on the Indo-U.S. CEOs Forum and the Indo-Malaysia CEOs Forum, think tanks created to strengthen bilateral cooperation and trade. Ms. Reddy is a member of the Wipro Business Leadership Council, a governing board member of XLRI Jamshedpur, a leading management institution in India, and a senior vice president of the All India Management Association. Medtronic, Inc., headquartered in Minneapolis, is the global leader in medical technology — alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. “”We are delighted that Preetha Reddy will join our Board of Directors. Preetha is one of the world’s true pioneers in bringing high-quality health care to patients in India and other emerging markets. She will be a valued adviser as we focus on globalizing our Company and developing innovative therapies that provide both clinical and economic value,”” said Omar Ishrak, Medtronic chairman and chief executive officer.