Apollo Sugar Clinics to enter Middle East and expand in India

Apollo Sugar Clinics, the diabetes care arm on the Apollo healthcare is expanding its presence internationally, with its first global clinic soon to be launched in the Middle East.

The expansion plan also includes on ground action in India reaching out to  65 million people reported to be suffering from diabetes. Apollo will add more clinics in India, taking the number from 28 to 40 such clinics.

It has also recently entered the Mumbai market, with the launch of the concept of neighborhood care delivery centres. It aims to provide quality diabetic care accessible in major parts of the country.

For this speciality healthcare venture, Apollo Sugar Clinics has partnered with Sanofi, with the latter reportedly making an investment of 90 crore in this Apollo venture.

"After successful operations here, we're now exploring international market and the initial focus is the Middle East, which has increasing number of diabetic people," Apollo Sugar Clinics chairperson Sangita Reddy told reporters here.

"We've partnered with Sanofi, which is a global leader in diabetes management. We've benchmarked global best practises in healthcare delivery with the increasing number of people becoming diabetes here, we must act quickly", she said.

The company today announced its entry into Mumbai with the opening of four neighbourhood care delivery centres and aims at offering world-class diabetic care.

The French healthcare giant Sanofi invested Rs 90 crore to pick up 20 per cent stake into Apollo Sugar Clinics in January this year.

"We've invested Rs 90 crore. We'll continue to provide financial support, if needed in the future along with other resources," said Sanofi India managing director Shailesh Ayyangar.

In India, diabetes afflicts over 65 million, while over 77 million are diagnosed as pre-diabetic and the number of diabetics is expected to touch 109 million by 2035.