There are also several instances of botched treatment by Apollo. The late Union power minister R. Kumaramangalam died in 2000 after prolonged treatment inAIIMS and Apollo. The likely causes cited ranged from leukaemia to septicemia. A subsequent inquiry revealed that Apollo had not carried out necessary investigations. In 2003,DMK chief M. Karunanidhi accused Apollo Chennai of messing up the treatment of his nephew and then Union minister Murasoli Maran. Incidentally, the first major case of a treatment gone wrong was in Apollo Chennai in the '80s. International table tennis player V. Chandrashekhar, admitted for a minor knee operation, was left paralysed after surgery.
In the past two decades, Reddy has acquired the reputation of being close to the rich and powerful in the national capital. His links with a former Delhi lieutenant governor helped him with his city operations. The state government not only allotted 15 acres of land to Apollo but also spent Rs 17 crore of public money constructing the hospital.
Since the government had invested funds, the agreement was that of the 600 beds, one-third would be for poor patients who would be given free treatment. However, as several committees who have examined the hospital's functioning point out, Apollo earns on an average Rs 90 lakh a year from poor patients. The hospital's defence: it does not charge for the bed or the doctors, but only for investigations done at the hospital. Many in the medical profession cannot reconcile with this as a credible explanation.
Dr Reddy often says that the bricks in the Chennai hospital equal the number of difficulties he faced in setting it up. The way things are going he may say the same about his 'prestigious' hospital in the capital.
