Covid-19 will drive revenues for hospitals, diagnostic labs in 2021

Hospitals and diagnostic labs that have been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 in 2020 are looking forward to resume normal business — non-emergency treatments, elective surgeries and medical tourism — next year. Most of these had come to a grinding halt in the wake of the pandemic, hitting revenue targets.

But whether or not the pandemic comes to an end in 2021, hospitals and labs will continue to earn revenues on its account. The RT-PCR tests will carry on, and the massive vaccination drive will require lakhs of antibody tests to check for immunity. One would need