Dalmia Medicare will work with non-branded labs to offer pathology and radiology services

The Dalmia Group, which operates in cement, refractories and power manufacturing sectors, on Wednesday launched diagnostic services bearing the brand name Dalmia Medicare.

Dalmia Medicare will work with non-branded labs to offer pathology and radiology services. It will share revenues with the labs.

This is similar to aggregation services offered by 1mg Technologies Pvt. Ltd and Practo Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

According to Sanjay Dalmia, chairman of Dalmia group of companies, the diagnostics segment is highly unorganized and presents a big opportunity.

“The Indian healthcare industry is growing at an exponential rate, but there is still a health care deficit in the country. With the advent of technology and innovation in every aspect of life, the new-age consumer has numerous expectations from healthcare services. At the same time, there are consumers who still don’t have access to quality health care. Dalmia Medicare is well equipped to cater to the needs of all kinds of consumers ensuring both accessibility and quality,” Dalmia said.

1mg too recently began offering custom lab packages, besides its aggregation of third-party labs such as Thyrocare, Wellness Pathcare, Metropolis, etc. It has tied up with National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)- certified labs.

According to Dalmia, India has more than 50,000 path labs and it targets to capture 10% of this market soon.

He said that on average, these labs earn Rs.5-10 lakh per month. So, with 5,000 labs, the company can easily target a business which is worth Rs.500 crore per month.

Dalmia declined to specify the investment planned, saying it will be need-based.

Dalmia Medicare also plans to launch services such as e-pharmacy and fitness centres in 2017.

Overall, the Indian health care market, which is worth $100 billion, is likely to grow at a 23% compound annual growth rate to reach $280 billion by 2020.

Dalmia Medicare already has 32 labs in its fold across the National Capital Region (NCR) and targets to have 350 by March in NCR alone. It will go pan-India thereafter.

Dalmia Medicare is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dalmia Biz Pvt. Ltd representing its healthcare vertical. Dalmia Biz has set up a 20-member team, which includes people with a healthcare background.

It has hired Vivek Gupta, formerly with AskMeBazaar.com, as chief executive officer. It plans to expand the team to 200 people by March. The group also runs Dalmia Healthcare, which offers ayurvedic products.

Dalmia Biz said it also plans to expand into education, retail, finance, travel and tourism, real estate and hospitality.


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