It Is Time to Nationalise Apollo Hospitals

This article is based on a personal visit to Appollo Hospital in New Delhi. I spent several Hours watching closely the functioning of hospital and found to my dismay that the reputed institution /hospital is very badly managed. It is revenue driven and not patient driven. The purpose is to collect revenue and not curing the sick patients. This purpose has made the hospital a fit case for nationalization on highest priority.

Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited is the largest for-profit private hospital network in India, providing a wide range of healthcare services. As of now, they have 71 hospitals strategically located in various cities, for providing healthcare for a large population. We will try to explore and try to find out whether it is being done.

Table of Contents

1. Preamble: The Betrayal of Healthcare
2. Introduction: Apollo as a Corporate Experiment Gone Wrong
3. Revenue Farming: Profits Over Patients
4. Mismanagement and Ethical Collapse
5. Case Studies: The Human Cost
6. Comparative Table: Apollo vs. AIIMS vs. NHS
7. Global Lessons in Public Healthcare
8. The Case for Nationalisation
9. Conclusion: Healthcare as a Right, Not a Commodity

Preamble:

The Betrayal of Healthcare

India’s healthcare system is fractured. Government hospitals are overwhelmed, while private chains like Apollo Hospitals have turned medicine into a profit-farming enterprise. What began as a promise of modern healthcare has devolved into a system where patients are treated as revenue streams, not human beings.

India’s healthcare system stands at a crossroads. While government hospitals struggle under crushing demand, private chains like Apollo Hospitals have turned medicine into a marketplace. What began as a promise of modern healthcare has devolved into a profit-farming enterprise, where patients are treated as revenue streams rather than human beings.

Introduction

Apollo as a Corporate Experiment Gone Wrong

Apollo Hospitals, founded in 1983, was hailed as the dawn of corporate healthcare in India. But four decades later, its legacy is tarnished. Instead of pioneering excellence, Apollo has become synonymous with:

• Exorbitant billing practices
• Opaque management structures
• Urban-centric expansion that ignores rural India

The experiment has failed. Healthcare cannot be left to corporate monopolies whose only metric is quarterly profit.

Founded in 1983, Apollo Hospitals was hailed as the dawn of corporate healthcare in India. Four decades later, its legacy is tarnished:

• Exorbitant billing practices

• Opaque management structures
• Urban-centric expansion ignoring rural India

Apollo has become a symbol of mismanagement, where profit eclipses service.

Revenue Farming: Profits Over Patients

Apollo’s model is built on extracting maximum revenue per patient:

• Inflated bills for routine procedures
• Unnecessary diagnostic tests pushed to meet revenue targets
• Exploitation of insurance schemes by cherry-picking profitable cases

Patients are not healed — they are harvested.

Mismanagement and Ethical Collapse

Apollo’s management has repeatedly failed:

• Doctors incentivised by revenue generation undermine ethics.
• Poor grievance redressal leaves families helpless against billing fraud.
• Neglect of rural outreach shows Apollo’s failure to serve the nation.

This is not healthcare. It is corporate opportunism masquerading as service

Case Studies: The Human Cost

1. Delhi, 2024: A family billed ₹18 lakh for a routine cardiac procedure, forced to sell land.

2. Chennai, 2023: Apollo refused Ayushman Bharat patients, citing “low reimbursement”, while admitting only high-paying cases.
3. Hyderabad, 2025: Doctors reported pressure to prescribe unnecessary MRIs to meet monthly revenue targets.
4. Delhi, 2024: A family billed ₹18 lakh for a routine cardiac procedure and was forced to sell land.
5. Chennai, 2023: Apollo refused Ayushman Bharat patients, citing “low reimbursement”, while admitting only high-paying cases.
6. Hyderabad, 2025: Doctors reported pressure to prescribe unnecessary MRIs to meet monthly revenue targets.

These are not isolated incidents — they are systemic

Conclusion: Healthcare as a Right, Not a Commodity

Apollo Hospitals today stand as a symbol of revenue farming and mismanagement. The time has come to reclaim healthcare from profiteers.

Nationalisation is not confiscation — it is restoration. Healthcare belongs to the people, not shareholders.

It is time to nationalise Apollo Hospitals.

Apollo Hospitals reported consolidated revenues of approximately ₹20,500 crore in FY 2024–25, with continued growth into FY 2025–26, where quarterly results show revenues crossing ₹5,800 crore in Q4 FY26 alone. This positions Apollo as India’s largest private healthcare chain, with annual revenues now exceeding ₹22,000 crore.

1. Apollo Hospitals today stand as a symbol of revenue farming and mismanagement. The time has come to reclaim healthcare from profiteers. Nationalisation is not confiscation — it is restoration.
2. Healthcare belongs to the people, not to shareholders.
3.  It is time to nationalise Apollo Hospitals.

Implications

1. Revenue vs Public Spend: Apollo’s annual revenue (~₹22,000 crore) is larger than the entire health budget of several Indian states, underscoring the paradox of private dominance vs public neglect.
2. Profit Over Patients: Apollo’s revenue growth is tied to aggressive expansion and premium pricing, while government hospitals remain underfunded.
3. Urban Bias: Most revenue is concentrated in urban centers, highlighting inequitable access.

Apollo collects ₹22,000 crore while India’s wards collect dust.

Satpal Singh Johar

Email: satpalsingh1944@yahoo.com /esspess@gmail.com

Cell number: +91 9871286514

Website: pointblank0.com