Apollo to set up medical, para-medical college

KOLKATTA: Healthcare provider Apollo group plans to set up its first medical and paramedical college along with a multi-speciality hospital at Rajarhat near here.

"This will be Apollo group's first medical college. Our chairman has discussed the matter with the chief minister. We have asked for land from the West Bengal government. Land has been identified and our CEO is doing the follow-up," said V R Ramanan, Apollo Gleneagles Hospital's director for medical services.

The project will be implemented by Apollo, but Apollo Gleneagles, a joint venture with Gleneagles of Singapore, may pick up some equity later, he said.

Ramanan was talking to reporters yesterday on the sidelines of Apollo's press conference on "Positron Emission Tomography-Computerised Tomography" (PET-CT) that allows more comprehensive and cost-effective detection of cancer.

In reply to a question, Ramanan said Apollo Gleneagles had shelved its cancer hospital project at Rajarhat after the Tatas announced plans to build a similar facility there.

"We have instead decided to start more speciality services like bone marrow transplant, paediatric, cardiac and obesity surgery at our existing facility here. We will also have a special area for kidney transplants and increase the number of intensive care beds from the present 72 to 100," Ramanan said.