Medical diagnostics is at the centre of healthcare delivery. In recent years, much has been said about process improvement and automation and how can these approaches help medical diagnostic centres improve efficiency and cut costs.
Equally significant is their ability to reduce the opportunity for medical errors and increase patient safety. Laboratories produce test results that are widely used in clinical and public health settings. They affect the treatment decisions in as many as 70% of medical cases. The patients health outcomes depend on the accuracy of testing and reporting.
Thus, delayed or incorrect laboratory results caused by poor sample quality or other pre-analytical factors potentially obstruct or lead to erroneous diagnosis and treatment. This may impact patient outcomes, severely compromising patient safety leading to unintended economic burden on the laboratory or the hospital.
In order to achieve the highest level of accuracy and reliability, it is essential to replace the existing systems and incorporate such systems that can efficiently perform all processes and procedures in the laboratory.
Studies say that such errors or delays contribute to millions of injuries and deaths every year. Having intensified efforts to combat this serious problem, many laboratory professionals and hospital administrators have come into force at implementing automation systems in their clinical laboratories. As automation continues to grow in popularity, these laboratories are witnessing the proof of its success and tapping into dramatic improvements in error reduction and testing efficiency.
Witnessing the benefits of automation, laboratories have no doubt grown more enthusiastic about improving processes through automation. This has demonstrated the fact that laboratories play a cardinal role in safeguarding the well-being of patients. Notably, automation is a tool that enables the professionals to perform this role much more efficiently and effectively.
An organization achieving the vision of quality health for a better world which is at the forefront of innovation in the healthcare industry is, Thyrocare Technologies Limited. It is proud to be a part of the technology and automation shift that is transforming the medical and healthcare landscape.
At the Forefront of Automation
The Mumbai headquartered organization Thyrocare, is a diagnostic laboratory that is focused on clinical chemistry. It operates across ten countries and processes nearly 4,00,000 tests related to various disorders per day.
Thyrocare is India’s first and most advanced fully automated laboratory having a strong presence in more than 2000 cities and towns across India and the globe. It primarily focuses on providing quality services at affordable costs to laboratories and hospitals in India and other countries.
Thyrocare plays an active role in supporting small laboratories that lack costly analysers to fulfil their diagnostic needs using a back end high technology partner. It provides cutting edge solutions to chronic illnesses offering affordable and reliable solution in identifying, monitoring and managing the disorder.
The Journey of a Prolific Entrepreneur
Dr. A. Velumani, the Founder of Thyrocare, was born in Appanaicken Patti Pudur, in 1959, a small village in the outskirts of Coimbatore District, Tamil Nadu. Regardless of being born to an underprivileged family, his mother managed to admit Dr. A. Velumani and his siblings to pursue graduation from the Chennai University.
Dr. A. Velumani, after completing graduation, along with his siblings, managed to accomplish post graduation from the Mumbai university by barely earning money to survive.
The dearth of job opportunities available in Coimbatore required him to move to Mumbai in 1982. Putting immense efforts, he finally got recruited to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai. To his surprise, getting admitted to BARC was as if a dream come true. Apparently, at the centre, he completed PhD in Thyroid Biochemistry during his stint of 14 years at BARC as a Research Scientist.
By the time he was 37 he had accomplished all the desires anyone would dream for- Job, Salary, Caring wife, Children, Comfort, and Luxury. But still, something kept him bothering. It made him feel that this is a high time in his life where he can take risks and do something impactful.
By taking some life changing decisions, he and his wife gathered huge amount of funds and established Thyrocare. The journey of good and bad experiences had curated and transformed his life which made him what he is today, a Prolific Entrepreneur.
Utilizing his 15 years knowledge of Thyroid Biochemistry and its testing methods, technology and reagent manufacturing Dr. A. Velumani disrupted the traditional business models in clinical chemistry. And now Thyrocare, his venture, has reached a 3000 crore market capitalisation in a period of 20 years. Thyrocare has so far employed 8000 graduates and is directly or indirectly providing livelihood to over 10,000 families.
A Historic Feat in Clinical Chemistry
Initially, Thyrocare had started with a focus on Thyroid made Thyroid volumes. It helped Thyrocare to build a foundation for HR management, IT, and Logistics that would handle operations in multiple cities.
In the following years, Dr. A. Velumani along with his team of professionals from the medical fraternity, incorporated clinical operations for Infertility, Pregnancy, Growth and Metabolism, Diabetes, and Oncology. Currently, Thyrocare works on conducting 300 different tests through its automated laboratory. It’s focus is on metabolism.
Considering the use of technology, during the initial phases, it used only a single technology ‘Radioimmunoassay’. Its focus on speed and accuracy made Thyrocare the first Indian laboratory to boast of an IT enabled and fully automated diagnostic laboratory before it actually emerged in practice all over the country.
Today, Thyrocare is the single most fully automated laboratory in India with an investment of around 100 crores on analysers and automation. Serving best to the community it has made a big difference to the country through its clinical research and by introducing advanced technologies to work efficiently.
Moreover, it is the first company in India to introduce barcoding system at collection point. It provides collection kits, which contains barcoded tubes and consumables and ensures that error free samples are collected.
It is equipped with meticulously created and monitored systems, well-chosen and trained manpower, best global technologies for testing and an uncompromised approach to instrumentation. Its uniqueness is looked upon as a yardstick for quality by stakeholders in the diagnostic industry. Its effort to innovate and remain at par of the global standards for best of quality service delivery, at the most cost-effective prices sets it apart.
Smart Solutions
Thyrocare was a 100% manual laboratory conducting all the tests using trained manpower from the year 1995 to 2000. It scaled its operations and by 2010 it carried out 90% automated procedures. It has integrated Total Laboratory Automation (TLA) to improve productivity of machines and workforce. The installation of ‘Aptio system’ by Siemens has made the entire operations seamless and totally automated.
It has created an in-house IT solution, called ‘Charbi’ previously known as ‘Back Bone’ which today seamlessly connects employees, departments, franchisees, DSAs and vendors as well. Its robust IT infrastructure connects its network of clients spread across ten countries to its Cloud Server. The cloud server is an integration of Laboratory, Technology, Business, Logistics, CRM and administration.
Thyrocare has also partnered with ‘Better-Life’ for customer convenience. Better-Life, is a mobile app development company specialising in the healthcare sector. It works to bring mobility into the diagnostic services space by giving customers the convenience to book tests, view reports and check health notifications on their mobile devices.
Comprehending the Future
Thyrocare aims to focus more on the same domain i.e. clinical chemistry, which has huge scope globally. It envisions to add more technologies in clinical chemistry, and add more tests in it for menu expansion. It looks forward to introduce more packages for preventive care, more franchisees and reach the far flung and smaller towns in India.
