Patients from the Barak Valley suffering from cancer, cardiac arrests and diabetes, making a beeline for Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, is nothing new.
Keeping this in mind, Apollo Hospitals has decided to observe its ‘Apollo Day’ and launch a mega health awareness drive at Silchar on September 6.
This was informed by R Sudarshan, Vice President (Marketing), Southern Region, Apollo Hospitals, during a press conference at Silchar’s Cachar Club on Wednesday.
Sudarshan said, “The vision of Apollo Hospitals founder Chairman Dr Pratap C Reddy is to prevent and control Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).”
“So, we have set September 6-8 to spread the message of good health and prevention,” he added.
He also informed that the activities to be held as part of the Apollo Day programme include Basic Life Support (BLS) training sessions in schools and communities, health screening and awareness programs in clubs, government and corporate establishments.
Besides, first aid training campaign in collaboration with the Police department, breast and cervical cancer awareness programme for women as well as a free multi-speciality health screening camp will also be held.
Sudarshan added, “Senior specialists and consultants from across Apollo facilities in Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati, the centres of excellence in cardiology, cancer, transplantation, neurosciences, critical care and gynaecology would participate in this event.”
When asked why Silchar has been chosen to observe Apollo Day, Rana Dasgupta, CEO, Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata, told Northeast Now, “We get a lot of patients from this region.”
“We want to give something back to the people, here, who come to us in dire need of medical care,” said Dasgupta.
He also said, “A lot that can be done for prevention of NCDs at individual, community and policy level. NCDs can be prevented with the right strategies.”
“We believe in being predictive of a disease or symptom to occur and rather move for prevention later,” said Dasgupta.
Apollo’s 70th hospital in Guwahati that came into being in June, 2017, has been catering to the healthcare needs of the people across Assam and the Northeast.
Speaking to Northeast Now, Dr Sudhakar Manav, CEO of Apollo Hospitals, Guwahati, said, “We are looking at setting up telemedicine centres and expand the reach of the Apollo Information Centres across Assam to allow people to avail expert opinions from the best medical specialists of the country.”
Dr Manav added, “In order to make its services more accessible to the people of Barak Valley, Apollo Hospitals through its hubs in Chennai, Kolkata and Guwahati shall be working with nursing homes and medical specialists.”
“There will be collaborations in areas like telemedicine, tele-radiology, tele-ECG and E-ICUs to make high quality and advanced healthcare accessible to the people of this region,” said Dr Manav.
