PANJIM: The management of the Apollo Victor Hospital is exploring the possibility of establishing a cancer treatment unit sometime next year. Victor Albuquerque, chairman and managing director revealed that he was seriously considering the possibility despite the numbers not really adding up in the state.
He was speaking to the Herald during the course of a media interaction on the occasion of the hospital having completed 11 years in operation. He said “I will have to invest approximately Rs 8-9 crore for a linear accelerator which is a lot of money.
In addition I will have to build a bunker for it. I will need the necessary permission from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. This hospital will be ideal for people from Ratnagiri onwards. They will not need to go to Mumbai for treatment”.
The incidence of breast and stomach cancer in the state he revealed was very high due to the lifestyle and food habits and it made sense to have a unit in the state. In addition he revealed that the group would be initiating far reaching changes in the hospital. This change would start with the group taking charge of the pharmacy in the hospital which was earlier run by the Apollo group.
He said, “The pharmacy and the radiology department are the two departments that are the profit making ones in any hospital. The pharmacy in fact contributed as much as 30-40% of the profits of any hospital”. Asked if this could mean that Apollo could withdraw its name from the venture he said it was possibility.
The hospital he said would now be focused on catering to the middle class and the lower middle class.
With regards to profits generated by the hospital he said the hospital had not done so as yet with the Rs 26 crores invested in the hospital requiring continuous investment to ensure that the latest technology was in place.
He said “Today medical science is about technology and the 10% we earn every year on the investment is put right back into the hospital”.
The hospital will now open its doors to large number of visiting consultants that would enable patients to select their consultants and make the hospital more patient friendly.
The hospital he said was also doing its bit for medical tourism with 15% of patients coming from outside India especially during the tourist season. Victor said they came largely from England.
