When Dr. Prathap C. Reddy opened the first Apollo Hospital in Chennai in 1983, India's private healthcare sector barely existed in its modern form. Today, the network he founded spans more than 70 hospitals and is widely credited with catalysing the growth of medical tourism to India.

What Sets the Chennai Flagship Apart

The original Chennai campus remains Apollo's flagship for a reason — it houses one of India's first proton therapy centres, a technology still unavailable in most countries, alongside comprehensive cardiac, transplant and orthopedic programmes built up over four decades of continuous operation.

A Scale Few Competitors Match

Apollo's network size is itself a clinical advantage for complex cases: specialists across the group regularly collaborate on multidisciplinary case reviews, and the sheer surgical volume — tens of thousands of procedures annually across cardiac, oncology and transplant alone — translates into deep institutional experience with even rare conditions.

"Scale in healthcare isn't just about convenience. It means the surgeon reviewing your case has likely seen your exact condition dozens of times before, not once."

For international patients, the practical benefit is a 24/7 dedicated patient desk, in-house interpreter services, and diagnostic capacity that means most pre-treatment workups are completed within a single day of arrival rather than spread across a week.

For a full breakdown of Apollo's accreditations, specialties and current partner doctors, see the Apollo Hospitals profile on Medova.