Lack of time is a barrier to preventive care: Dr Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy

Interview/ Dr Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy, CEO, Apollo Hospitals

For a lot of Indians, routine medical appointments can turn logistical nightmares, requiring them to take a day off work and burn limited leave. And on Sundays, usually free for such tasks, hospitals retreat into emergency-only mode.

It’s a gap in the health care system that Apollo Hospitals hopes to plug with its ‘Always Open. Always Here.’ initiative, through which it would transition routine outpatient consultations, diagnostics and elective procedures into a full seven-day operation.

“It gives patients one more day to act on their health before delay becomes risk,” says Dr Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy, CEO of Apollo Hospitals.

For a lot of us, good health is the absence of pain. However, data from Apollo’s Health of the Nation 2026 Report shows this is a dangerous fallacy. The most recent screening cycle, which analysed data from 30 lakh people across the Apollo ecosystem, found that despite showing no symptoms, 26 per cent of patients had hypertension and 23 per cent had diabetes.

By opening up Sundays, the initiative targets these silent killers before they escalate. It also makes sure that expensive equipment and operating theatres, usually idle on Sundays, can be utilised effectively.

“In almost every other industry, convenience is a premium product,” says Kaliamoorthy. “Weekend services typically come with a surcharge, turning convenience into a luxury. Apollo has rejected this model, maintaining strict price parity.”

In an interview, Kaliamoorthy talks about the initiative, why it won’t overburden doctors and why its adoption nationally could change the health care system. Excerpts:

What is the ‘Always Open. Always Here.’ initiative all about?

The primary goal of this transition [is to go] from an emergency and selective weekend model to providing major elective consultations and procedures across the 73-plus hospital ecosystem on Sundays.

This shift is driven by specific consumer insights that reveal a widening gap between traditional hospital hours and the availability of the modern citizenry, necessitating a move towards health care normalisation.

What is the rationale behind this?

The demographic rationale for this shift is anchored in the health of the nation report, which highlights that a lack of time is a primary barrier to preventive care. If I am a middle-aged person, I have a kid and a parent at home, I am a busy working professional and I need to attend parent-teacher meetings or take a spouse for a check-up. How many days of leave can I take from the workplace in a month to take care of myself and my parents? Because the service is not available on a Sunday when I am free, I might postpone health checks.... And so, this additional day will help people have their most personal time to look after their health.

How will doctors manage this?

A strategic pillar of this model is the balance between clinical availability and staff wellbeing. To ensure patient safety and professional sustainability, Apollo has implemented a rotational roster system that leverages its vast manpower pool without overwork or new capital expenditure.

We have put a proper roster in place; if there are 10 gastroenterologists, they spend one Sunday in 10 weeks.

What after a diagnosis at the clinic?

While emergency surgeries have always been immediate, the new model allows for electively scheduled operations. This means a patient who is diagnosed during the week can choose to have their procedure on a Sunday to suit their schedule, or even undergo same-day surgery if the clinical situation permits. This includes access to 15-plus specialities, including neurology and spine, and preventative care like master health check-ups and routine screenings, full diagnostics available as a routine day.

Tell us about the scale of implementation and national launch strategy.

To set an industry-wide standard, the initiative is being launched on a national scale, starting in Delhi. This centralised launch ensures that this clinic model is recognised as a nationwide standard of care rather than a localised pilot.

Appointments are fully integrated across the Apollo app, telephone booking and social media channels. Roughly 100 staff members per main hospital are allocated to support the Sunday ecosystem.

Apollo’s innovations historically shape the broader market. Many private and government players have followed our initiatives in the past 30 years.