Hope has been rekindled for diabetes patients with the partnership between two international medical institutions, Apollo Hospitals and Sanofi. According to the partners, the expansion of Apollo Sugar Clinics, an integrated diabetes care programme in India, would cater for local and international patients.

Apollo Hospitals Group is one of Asia’s largest integrated healthcare organisations with over 8,500 beds across 50 hospitals, while Sanofi, an integrated global healthcare leader. Through the collaboration, Apollo and Sanofi plan to leverage their respective expertise in diabetes to provide patients with access to comprehensive educational resources, treatment and care programmes that would help patients better manage their diabetes. The first wave of this collaboration will focus on the establishment of 50 Apollo Sugar Clinics.

Describing the collaboration as a good start towards improving the diabetes facility in India, Dr. Prathap Reddy, Chairman of Apollo Hospitals Group, said that the shared vision of the two health institutions would shape a new approach to diabetes care that would benefit patients across the world.

Dr. Reddy further said: “Over the years, Apollo Hospitals has benchmarked global best practices in quality healthcare delivery with stringent alignment to approved standards and protocols. With the increasing burden of diabetes in our society, we need to act quickly and with a sense of purpose to arrest the disease from claiming more lives. I am confident that through Apollo Sugar Clinics we will be able to offer patients advanced care and counselling that will help them better manage their condition.”

Christopher Viehbacher, Sanofi’s Chief Executive Officer, said the collaboration with Apollo Hospitals demonstrated Samofi’s commitment to delivering superior patient experience that offered support at various stages of the diabetes journey. “Sanofi has a heritage of nearly 100 years in developing treatments for diabetes and understands the impact that local expertise and innovative care models can have for patients who are managing their diabetes,” he announced.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible for more than 36 million deaths each year with close to 80 per cent of them being recorded in low and middle income countries. Diabetes, a prominent NCD, has afflicted close to 382 million people globally.

The main objective of the Apollo Sugar Clinics, according to the partners, is to make diabetes ‘disease-free’ by offering easy access to an integrated diabetes care solution within a clinical infrastructure. This facility will promote early detection and treatment of diabetes and associated complications, strengthened by lifestyle management and behaviour change programmes.

Many people with diabetes are either unaware of their condition, or have it poorly controlled. They require better awareness about the disease, its complications, management and must also have access to the latest treatment options.

Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, Apollo Sugar and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals, said: “We understand that a diagnosis of diabetes and the pursuit of necessary lifestyle changes can be daunting for patients. So our aim is to help patients get access to the right treatment and counselling for them to know that diabetes can be managed. At Apollo Sugar Clinics, a patient with diabetes has access to information, co-morbidities management, counselling, care and treatment. This really makes the transition much easier. We are keen to take Apollo’s comprehensive offering to many more parts of India.”

Apollo Sugar will be a part of Apollo Health and Lifestyle, the division that drives its rapid growth in primary and secondary healthcare.

•Photo shows, from left; Sangita Reddy, Chairperson, Apollo Sugar and Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals; Christopher A. Viehbacher, Chief Executive Officer, Sanofi; Dr Prathap Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group; Dr Deepak Chopra, Renowned Global Spiritual Guru; and Gagan Bhalla, CEO, Apollo Sugar, at the launch of the Apollo Hospitals-Sanofi partnership.

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