Dr Reddy has been providing quality healthcare in India since 1983, and there are no signs of him slowing down as the FILA 2022 Lifetime Achievement awardee says, 'health has no holiday'
Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Founder Chairman of Apollo Hospitals
Image: Selvaprakash Lakshmanan for Fores India
Dr Prathap Reddy vividly remembers landing behind bars for attending a sabha (political gathering) by Mahatma Gandhi in the pre-Independence Days. “I was in high school and we went to Silver Hall to see Gandhiji that day. After we came out, the police arrested us and took us to jail in batches of 20. My grandfather later told the officer to release us immediately, saying else he’ll beat them up,†he recalls.
Born in the small town of Aragonda, 100 miles away from the erstwhile Madras Presidency, in 1933, Reddy, 89, is the founder-chairman of Apollo Hospitals. In Aragonda—which today has an Apollo Hospital—one could study only up to class three and so, he had to go to the nearest town Chittoor for further studies. “I studied, fooled around and played like a monkey… the one with a cycle who was out and about, and had so much fun,†he says.
While in Stanley Medical College in Chennai, Reddy became assistant secretary and wanted to hold a medical exhibition so that people know about their bodies. His principal, however, refused. Dr V Shanta, one of the foremost women doctors in India, and he then got together, pooled in money and held the exhibition despite the opposition. But for three days, no one turned up. A determined Reddy visited every newspaper in Chennai and requested them to see what they were doing. They need not write about it if they didn’t like it, but they should at least visit, he believed.
The exhibition was covered on the front pages immediately and Reddy had to send telegrams to his classmates, who had gone home for vacations, to return to college to manage the overwhelming crowd. The exhibition’s success resulted in them getting a grant which helped them run a social programme in a village. Reddy’s enterprising skills were on display at a young age.
Later, Reddy tells Forbes India, he moved to London to study medicine. “This was after Independence. I realised Nehru [Jawaharlal, India’s first prime minister] had come, so I went up to him and said he should address our college students as we are together as a union,†he recalls. Nehru was furious and told Reddy: “You are supposed to study… your parents suffer because of your union activities, unions call for strikes.†Not afraid of putting across his point of view, Reddy retorted, “I don’t know what students you are talking about, but Madras students don’t do all that. But as a prime minister, if you address students, it will be insightful.†During his next visit, Nehru did address the students, but Reddy was not college president then; he was off to another journey.
(This story appears in the 08 April, 2022 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)