The hospital that started private healthcare in India
Chennai, Tamil NaduAssociate hospital
1983
Operating since
60+
Departments on one campus
1,500+
Outpatient visits a day
500+
International consultations a month
About the hospital
Why we refer here
Apollo opened here in 1983 as India's first corporate hospital, and Greams Road is still the group's flagship. It sees around 1,500 outpatients a day and takes more than 500 international consultations a month.
Apollo Hospitals opened at 21 Greams Lane, off Greams Road, in 1983, and the group has run it as its flagship ever since. It carries over 60 departments on one city-centre campus, which is the practical reason we send complex cases here: a patient who needs cardiology, nephrology and a transplant team to agree on a plan does not have to be moved between buildings to get it. The hospital reports around 1,500 outpatient visits a day and over 500 international consultations a month, so a Bangladeshi family arriving here is not an unusual event for the staff who receive them. Its Joint Commission International accreditation has been held continuously since 2006 and was renewed for the seventh consecutive time in March 2024 — the longest unbroken JCI record of any hospital we refer to. Two things are worth being clear about, because the Apollo name covers a great deal of ground. Apollo runs eleven other facilities in Chennai, and Apollo Proton Cancer Centre in Tharamani is a separate hospital with its own separate JCI accreditation and its own page on this site — not this building; and Apollo Imperial Hospitals in Chattogram is a locally owned hospital operating under an Apollo brand licence, not a route to Chennai. When we say Apollo Chennai on this page we mean Greams Road, and we will put the unit in writing before anyone travels.
- Over 60 departments on a single Chennai campus
- JCI accredited since 2006 — seventh consecutive reaccreditation, March 2024
- Apollo's international desk issues visa invitation letters, usually within 24–48 hours
- Interpreters, currency exchange and airport meet-and-assist at selected centres
What Apollo tells patients about facilitators
“For your safety, please engage only through official Apollo channels and avoid unverified third-party facilitators.”
Apollo is right to print that, and we would rather you read it here than come across it later and wonder. It is also the reason this hospital is on this page at all: our arrangement with Apollo is a signed, direct agreement, and Apollo's own international patient desk is who we deal with. What we are not is Apollo's only representative in Bangladesh — other companies work with Apollo here, and Apollo's own announcement of its Chattogram information centre says it collaborates with local physicians and medical value travel professionals. So take the sentence at face value and hold us to it: every case we send is registered with the hospital in writing before the first appointment, and if you want that confirmed at Apollo's end, ask us and we will put you in touch with the desk handling your case.
Photography to follow from the hospital
Accreditation
- Accredited by Joint Commission International since 2006, reaccredited for the seventh consecutive time in March 2024
- NABL accredited medical laboratory
- ISO 14001 certified; the first hospital in India to be awarded ISO 9001:2008
- Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited is publicly listed on the NSE and BSE
Centres of excellence
What Apollo Hospitals Greams Road treats
Comprehensive care across a wide range of specialities, delivered by expert teams under one roof.
Cardiac sciences
Interventional cardiology and cardiac surgery, including angioplasty, bypass grafting, TAVI and minimally invasive and robotic heart surgery.
Oncology
Medical, surgical and radiation oncology. Proton therapy is at Apollo Proton Cancer Centre in Tharamani — a separate Chennai hospital with its own page on this site, not this one.
Neurology
Brain, spine and nervous system care, from stroke and epilepsy through to complex neurosurgery.
Transplants
Solid organ transplantation, including heart and lung, with a dedicated transplant anaesthesia and critical care team.
Gastroenterology & hepatology
Digestive and liver disease, therapeutic endoscopy, and hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal surgery.
Nephrology & urology
Kidney disease, dialysis and transplantation, alongside urological surgery including robot-assisted procedures.
Orthopaedics
Joint replacement, spine surgery and sports injury care.
Pulmonology
Respiratory medicine covering asthma, COPD, lung infection and sleep-related breathing disorders.
Gynaecology & paediatrics
Women's health and children's medicine, with paediatric intensive care on site.
Emergency & critical care
24/7 emergency, trauma and intensive care, with a round-the-clock ambulance service.
International patients
What Apollo's international patient services actually do
Apollo publishes the most detailed arrival process of any hospital here, and also the most important piece of small print: airport pick-up and direct billing to an insurer are available at select centres, and Apollo does not name which. Greams Road is not listed among them. So read the two lines below carefully — everything else on this list applies wherever you are treated, and those two we confirm for your unit before you travel.
Visa and invitation letters
An official visa invitation letter once the treatment plan is finalised, which Apollo states is usually issued within 24–48 hours of treatment and travel being confirmed. That is the fastest published turnaround of any hospital on this page.
Airport transfer and arrival
An airport meet-and-assist team helps with luggage, a local SIM and currency exchange and escorts the family to the hospital or the hotel. Apollo states plainly that airport pick-up is available at select centres, so it is not guaranteed at every Apollo — we confirm it for your unit, and our own coordinator meets you either way.
Language and interpreters
Interpreters who sit in on the diagnosis, go through the treatment options and take informed consent — a wider role than most hospitals describe. Apollo says only "major languages" and publishes no list, so whether Bangla is among them is an open question we have not been able to close.
Estimates, currency and payment
Coordinators go through the cost estimate, what it includes, what it excludes and the deposit required, before commitment. Currency exchange is handled by the airport team on arrival.
Insurance
Apollo will advise on whether your policy is likely to cover the treatment. Billing the insurer directly is a separate matter and falls under the same caveat as the airport service — available at select centres — so plan on paying and being reimbursed unless we have confirmed otherwise for your unit.
Accommodation
Apollo suggests places to stay near the hospital, with provision for attendants, for short and long stays. It suggests them rather than booking them, so the booking is ours.
Which Apollo, in writing
Apollo runs eleven other facilities in Chennai and the caveats above turn on which one you are sent to. When we say Apollo Chennai on this page we mean Greams Road. Apollo Proton Cancer Centre is listed separately on this site. We put the unit in writing before anyone travels.
Source: Apollo's international patient services pages — "Plan your visit" and "About IPS" — read it on the hospital's own site
Also in the network
Manipal Hospitals
Multi-speciality tertiary care across a national network, with dedicated international patient desks.
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KIMS Hospitals Bengaluru
A multi-super-speciality campus built around robotic surgery, transplant and advanced critical care.
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Fortis Healthcare
Thirty-six facilities across twelve states, four of them JCI accredited, with a network-wide international patient desk.
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Apollo Proton Cancer Centre
Apollo's dedicated cancer hospital in Tharamani, Chennai — the first and only proton therapy centre in South Asia and the Middle East, with treatment support via Bangla Health Connect.
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Rela Hospital Chennai
A 450-bed quaternary hospital in Chennai with a liver and multi-organ transplant programme, and 130 of its beds in critical care.
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Dr Agarwals Eye Hospital
India's largest eye care network — cataract, cornea, retina and glaucoma surgery across 236 facilities, with a dedicated international patients team.
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HCG Cancer Centres
India's largest cancer network — oncology and haematology only, across 25 hospitals, with bone marrow transplant and the group's own Bengali interpreters.
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Thinking about Apollo Hospitals Greams Road?
Send us the diagnosis and the reports. We will come back with a specialist opinion and a written estimate from the hospital — and if another hospital suits the case better, we will tell you that instead.
We respond to every enquiry within 24 hours.