The Hindu Business Line : Niche diagnostic players in expansion mode

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New Delhi Feb. 21 To capture the opportunities present in the booming healthcare segment, niche diagnostic players are spreading their wings to upgrade, diversify and establish a pan-India presence.

Reputed in their fields, players such as Delhi-based Dr Lal PathLabs, Diwan Chand Integral Health Services (DCIHS) and RG Stone Urological Research Institute (RG) are in the process of establishing a corporate presence, even as they value-add to their services and offer world-class diagnostic technology.

Dr Lal PathLabs, which has 20 pathology labs currently, is planning a network of 50 labs by 2009 across India, which would make it the country's largest company-owned pathology lab chain. It is also mulling a public offer in the future.

Apart from the expansions being supported by venture fund Sequoia Capital that has a 26 per cent stake, and internal accruals, the company is also open to acquiring existing labs, though a majority of its ventures would be greenfield.

What Dr Lal's has going for itself is an accreditation from the College of American Pathologists and the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories. Its plan includes a spoke and wheel strategy with a reference lab in Delhi, metro labs in major cities and satellite labs in smaller towns.

Dr Lal's is also looking to enter the outsourcing pathology space to leverage on the $40-billion US pathology market. "Ten per cent of this, roughly $4 billion, pertains to high-end tests which could be an outsourcing opportunity," explains Mr O.P. Manchanda, Chief Operating Officer of the chain. In fact, the company is in talks with players in the US and hopes to enter the business in a few months.

DCIHS venture

DCIHS, which has made a name for itself in the health imaging space, is looking at tying up with a Bangalore healthcare group. It has already entered into the joint venture with Mumbai's Metropolis Clinical Labs, for providing high quality pathology services to its customer.

DCIHS is already equipped with high-end diagnostic equipment such as a 64 Slice CT Scan, dedicated mammography units, digital radiography systems for routine x-rays, Multi-slice Spiral CT Scan, Digital OPG, MRI, nuclear medicine and ultrasound. It also has a dental radiology clinic, imaging for oncology and women-related services in the Capital and NCR region.

Dr Ajay Agarwal, Director, DCIHS, adds that they also provide post-graduate training in Radiodiagnosis and have started teleradiology in the country, where an expert sitting in Delhi can provide a report on a patient being scanned in, say, distant Bihar.

RG has also announced its plans to have two more multi-speciality urology branches in the North and East at an investment of 13 crore, making it the largest chain of its kind. With this, the group will have six urology procedures centres in all four zones of the country — two in Delhi, one each at Mumbai, Chennai, Ludhiana and Kolkata.

RGURI also has an information centre in Wales, UK, which provides information and assistance to overseas patients who plan their treatment at the hospital.

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