Metropolis plans pathology labs across globe

B D Narayankar

Diagnostic chain Metropolis plans to make its presence felt in international market by setting up its pathological labs in Thailand, South Asia, South-East Asia, West Asia, Africa, Latin America, Bangladesh, Nepal and China.

The company is already in talks with authorities of an existing lab in Thailand to acquire the same and open its new upgraded state-of-the-art pathology lab next month.

It also plans to take the same acquisition route to establish centres in Nepal and Bangladesh. "The centres will work in a hub-and-spoke model with collection centres at different parts of the countries," Metropolis managing director G S K Velu said.

Metropolis seeks to network South Asia, South-East Asia, West Asia and Africa by 2009 end. It already has labs in Sri Lanka, South Africa, Seychelles and UAE.

Metropolis is planning to upgrade some of the existing centres to tertiary labs and add more collection centres. Over the next two years, Metropolis will add 80 more collection centres in Sri Lanka and a few more in Dubai and South Africa.

In the second expansion phase beyond 2010, Metropolis will explore opportunities in Latin America and China.

In the domestic market, the company is looking at acquiring a few labs in the north and eastern parts of the country. Until the end of this fiscal year, Metropolis will spend Rs 50 crore on its expansion plans — both domestic and international.

Meanwhile, Metropolis is planning to set up a radiology referral chain with a pan-India presence.

For setting up high-end referral radiology chain, Metropolis will look for options, including opening own centres, public-private partnerships and collaboration with multinational as well as domestic entities.

Metropolis will go for a separate capital expenditure (capex) funding for the new venture, mainly through private equity, Velu informed. The company requires a capex of at least Rs 250 crore for having pan-India presence. "Radiology services are highly capital-intensive due to high equipment cost involved. Each centre costs at least Rs 20 crore," he said.

There is a huge opportunity for radiology services, especially outsourced work from hos­pitals, including the state-run ones. "We are already managing labs of 30 hospitals," Velu said.

The company-owned centres may come up along with the existing pathological centres. In three years, Metropolis hopes to have a chain of 20 centres with high-end equipment, including CT scanners, positron emission tomography (PET) machines and mammography instruments.

In order to expand its pathological testing chain, Metropolis will spend Rs 200 crore until the end of financial year 2010. The company will explore both debt and equity routes to execute its plans.

Article Source: http://www.saching.com