MPW 2023: Apollo Hospitals Joint MD Sangita Reddy’s mantra for corporate success

Having a clear goal that is tied to a larger purpose has been a game-changer for Sangita Reddy, who leads the tech and innovation piece at healthcare chain Apollo Hospitals Enterprise. “Each one of us needs to articulate a clear statement that guides, empowers, and inspires us. Doing this small exercise can be extremely powerful in helping us decide what to do, and more importantly what not to do.” She, for instance, believes healthtech can contribute significantly to breaking down barriers to healthcare access for women, promoting proactive health management, and ultimately improving health outcomes.

The youngest of Founder and Chairman Prathap C. Reddy’s four daughters, it is under Sangita’s leadership that IoT, drone tech, blockchain, AI and data analytics are all playing a key role at Apollo. The latter two, especially, are used across the healthcare spectrum including prediction, prevention, diagnosis, remote healthcare and personalised management.  

One such initiative is the tech-based screening programme ‘ProHealth’, which Sangita—part of BT’s Most Powerful Women in Business list 2023—calls a notable highlight in her own journey. It combines the knowledge of the best doctors, decades of medical research and data along with the power of AI to predict potential health risks of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, hypertension, cancer and diabetes in patients. “[Given India’s higher NCD burden than most nations] This is one of the biggest roadblocks to India’s development and if we don’t collectively get ahead of it, India’s decade could turn into a generation of lost opportunity,” says Sangita, who was also the Chair of G20 Empower, set up to support women’s leadership across the G20 nations.