Apollo Hospitals enters skills segment, forms subsidiary

New Delhi: Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, India’s biggest hospital chain, has formed a subsidiary to impart healthcare-related training to 392,000 people in 10 years.

National Skill Development Corp. (NSDC), a public-private partnership to promote skills among Indians, has approved a proposal to form a partnership with the unit of Apollo Hospitals. NSDC has agreed to buy a stake in Apollo Med Skills Ltd and also extend a loan to the company as part of the partnership proposal, as per the NSDC-Apollo Med agreement, a copy of which has been reviewed by Mint.

The investment on the project will be around Rs 39 crore, of which NSDC will loan Rs 25.13 crore to Apollo Med Skills. Apollo will contribute Rs 9.88 crore. NSDC will also buy a 27% stake in Apollo Med Skills for Rs 3.65 crore.

K. Prabhakar, chief executive officer of Apollo Med Skills, said the company is entering the sector because it realises the requirement for trained manpower. Prabhakar said the group formed the unit towards the end of 2011 and was engaged with NSDC for the partnership. “We have now got their board approval,” he said.

The company will train people in subjects such as medical lab technology, dialysis and non-invasive cardiac courses, radiology and imaging, and operation theatre technology. It will also train doctors and nurses to update their skills.

Sangita Reddy, executive director of operations at Apollo Hospitals, will oversee the work of the training subsidiary as a director.

A spokesperson of NSDC confirmed the development. “Our board has approved the Apollo proposal earlier this month,” the spokesman said. “Since they are an established player, we can expect complete commitment from them.”

The company plans to set up about 47 centres in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Karnataka and West Bengal. “Since, we have partnered with NSDC, we can use some government school buildings for running classes, especially in the evenings,” Prabhakar said.

Apollo will also find jobs for the trained people in its hospitals and other healthcare centres.

Apollo Hospitals Group has a capacity of 8,500 beds across 54 hospitals in India and overseas.

When asked about the stake purchase in Apollo Med skills, the NSDC spokesman said it has bought stakes in several such firms with whom it has partnerships, including Centum Work Skill, a unit of Bharti Group, and IL&FS Skill. So far, NSDC has approved 60 proposals for funding, of which 49 are training proposals and 11 are sector skill council projects.

NSDC has a mandate to facilitate the training of 150 million people by 2022 in 20 focus areas.

prashant.n@livemint.com