A SENSE OF PURPOSE
Entrepreneurs must aim for ideas that impact the lives of others, and are accessible to all
A PHOTOGRAPH changed the course of my life. It was my father’s fascination for cars that prompted me to tuck in a photograph of myself standing proudly against a Rolls Royce with the routine letter to my parents in India from the US. Unlike other replies which were written by his ‘writer’, this one was in my father’s own handwriting. “If one could share this happiness and make a difference to people back home, how would it be?” he asked. Struck by this open-ended question, I relocated from the US to start a private practice in 1971. A cardiologist can treat a patient until he needs surgery. At the time, I would refer my patients to the US as they had the best technology on offer and the most acceptable success rates. On November 9, 1979, this changed. One of my patients died as he could not raise the $40,000 required for heart surgery in the US. That family’s loss made me think of the number of such tragedies that could take place across the nation. If we had the talent, I couldn’t see why we could not have the facilities for advanced care.
I took on the challenge of bringing in the best healthcare technology and doctors into the country. Being disillusioned by the lack of accountability in charity hospitals, I decided to infuse professionalism by redefining processes in terms of pre-operative, operative and post-operative care.
I realised that there is a need to re-engineer the system to bring about innovation in healthcare delivery. I opted for competence over family in managing the hospital. Apollo’s achievements are built by the employees who translated my ideas. I’m only a visionary. In fact, it is this Apollo family that will succeed me. I faced bureaucratic heat as early as the registration of Apollo Health Services. The construction of the hospital in Chennai was stalled by the state’s chief minister, MGR. Refusing to pay a price for urban land clearance, I turned to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who wrote a strong letter to MGR seeking the reason for the delay. Meanwhile, Mrs Gandhi asked Andhra Pradesh chief minister T Anjiah to set aside land for Apollo in Hyderabad.
The bigger problem, however, was a 320% customs duty on import of medical equipment. Though Mrs Gandhi granted certain exemptions, I had to spend two days every week pushing for clearances. Hospitals at the time were ineligible for funding, but Pranab Mukherjee who was the finance minister then, allowed Apollo to borrow 50% from Indian banks and the rest as foreign currency, as a special case. It took about six months to receive clearance for an IPO. Today the Apollo group has three major projects at various stages of development. A plan to take healthcare into villages through Reach Hospitals has already been rolled out. We now have the wherewithal to build enough hospitals but do not have enough human resources to run it. My next goal is to set up a knowledge health city in my village, training thousands through virtual classrooms.
Today’s entrepreneur should aim at not just creating a product or service that is viable but building an idea that would be purposeful, impact the life of the industry and ultimately be accessible to all. The 3Pspurity of purpose, patience and persistenceare needed to succeed in India.
As told to Sarah Jacob and PP Thimmaya in Bangalore