Lab Focus
“The Indian
Diagnostic Industry Needs Regulation�
Ameera Shah, Managing Director and CEO of Metropolis Healthcare Limited is a successful young entrepreneur and highly admired in the diagnostic industry. She is the Co-chairman of FICCI Healthcare Committee. In conversation with Dhirendra Pratap Singh, she shares her perspectives on the clinical laboratory business in India and Metropolis stint in this very dynamic market
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december / 2011 www.ehealthonline.org
Please provide a brief background of Metropolis and its reach in India? Metropolis is one of the leading corporate chains of diagnostic centres in India and has conceptualised on growing as an institution while standardising the norms in the growth trajectory. The company is present in every state of India either through its own branch laboratories, collection centers or its referral network. It is now also present in South Africa, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, UAE, Nepal, Bangladesh, Mauritius and Nigeria. Metropolis has 62 labs operational in India and 13 in overseas markets. Our innovations like Home Health Services enable us to reach you so that going for a checkup is no longer an inconvenience. What is your outlook on the diagnostic industry in India and particularly in Gujarat? What are the key opportunities and challenges? We have laid out an expansion plan of ` 15-20 crore for Gujarat. Recently, we have acquired a brownfield project in Mehsana in north Gujarat for an undisclosed amount. The strategy behind acquiring Mehsana laboratory was to establish a hub in that region to cater the surrounding areas of Northern parts of the state. We are looking to open 10 more laboratories in Gujarat over the next two years, besides the existing five labs in the state. The company has joined hands with 18 private hospitals across country to provide laboratory services. However, we are also looking to partner with government-run hospitals in Gujarat as well as
in Mumbai to provide lab facility on a publicprivate partnership model. Which are the major areas that Metropolis Healthcare is focusing on in the diagnostics segment? Our services include Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Radiology and Imaging Services, Hospital Laboratory Management, Central Laboratory Services for Clinical Trials, Site Management Services, Home Health Services, Preventive Health Checkups and Remote Pathology Testing Services. What is the level and nature of IT applications in your laboratories? How is it adding value to your business efficiency? ICT bridges the gaps by automating entire process of testing started from the on-line patient booking to the registration of the sample and then finally getting the report digitally signed in after the analysis of the sample. Had the entire process done manually, the possibilities of human error would have been higher in risk of errors. In Metropolis, we try and avoid as much as manual intervention in the testing process. In the future, ICT will play an important role in data mining of information in pathology and diagnostic industry which is already growing leaps and bounds. What is the share of organised and unorganised laboratories in the diagnostic sector? What is the market