MedPlus has earmarked about Rs 20 crore to build its network of regional labs and will soon expand pan-India. MedPlus PathLabs, a fully-owned subsidiary of MedPlus Health Services, currently operates the Clinical Reference Laboratory (CRL) in Hyderabad.
Each MedPlus lab will have automation and quality management systems such as Dimension Xpand series of integrated chemistry analysers and the ADVIA Centaur immunoassay platforms, which will be sourced from Siemens Healthcare.
The company has adopted a hub and spoke model, and this allows for higher penetration of its services across regions as well greater access to its customers. The vast majority of samples received at MedPlus' network of pharmacies and affiliates will be processed in these regional labs.
The majority of the 400-plus MedPlus pharmacies will employ trained lab technicians and serve as collection points, enabling consumers to benefit from the convenience of having reliable lab services just a few footsteps away.
MedPlus also offers home collection of samples, bringing the lab directly to the doorstep. Finally, a lab reporting system enables customers to receive their lab results directly from their local MedPlus pharmacy thereby reducing turnaround time.
According to Madhukar Gangadi, chief executive officer, MedPlus, "The total diagnostics market size is around Rs 500 crore, growing at 25 per cent per annum as a result of increased lifestyle diseases, changing clinical practices which emphasise investigations and greater healthcare access.
The diagnostic labs market is extremely fragmented and this produces tremendous variability in the costs, quality, and speed of diagnostic testing. This has provided a tremendous need for retail-based lab testing in which the sample is handled, end-to-end, within the same brand and therein lies the opportunity for MedPlus PathLabs.
