Govt should focus on preventive healthcare: SRL Diagnostics

Fortis-owned company SRL Diagnostics today stressed on the need for preventive healthcare in the country, advocating regular health check-ups over only illness-based detection.

"According to WHO, delays in diagnosis contribute to 60 per cent of the glaring mortality rate of cancer, heart diseases and asthma cases in India. This makes it crucial to shift the nation's healthcare focus from curative-oriented mindset to a preventive one," CEO Arindam Haldar said here.

He said the company has been working towards shifting the mindset of people from "illness to wellness" through monitoring and planned check-ups.

For this purpose, Delhi-based SRL Diagnostics has also rolled out a customised health-check platform under the brand name 'SRL Care'.

"Today, people just think of diet, supplements and weight loss when they think of health, but... outside appearance and external measurement tools may not be sufficient to tell how one is progressing from inside," Haldar told reporters here.

The company hopes to garner about 15-20 per cent of business out of its preventive healthcare services from the existing 4-5 per cent.

SRL Diagnostics is aiming for 8-9 per cent overall growth in the 2018-19 fiscal, he said. It clocked a revenue of around Rs 1,000 crore in the previous financial year.

The diagnostics firm has entered into public-private partnerships with the governments of Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh for 12 and 24 laboratories, respectively, he said, adding, discussions were also underway with more states.

Asked about the proposed cap on the cost of diagnostic tests, Haldar said the central government needs to keep in mind that it is a service and not a product. "The government must realise that before taking any call," he told PTI.

On its prospects in West Bengal, Haldar said the state is a "strategic and pilot" market for the company.