Interview for Medall Diagnostics on its new services : "Back to work"
1. What should be the role of the diagnostics industry in the COVID and post COVID worlds?
Ans: The first step to effectively treat an ailment begins with timely and accurate diagnosis. From merely being a testing lab, today’s diagnostic centres offer a host of services beyond just pathology. The pandemic has put the spotlight on preventive health care thereby necessitating the need for diagnostic labs to design innovative and cost effective health check-up packages which can go a long way in nipping the onset of any major health threat, right in the bud. Technology and keeping pa e with developing modalities play a key role during times of a pandemic. The ability to look at different ways to diagnose the disease and the extent of the disease are important.
Progressive diagnostic centres have gone beyond just catering to individual and walk-in patients for diagnostic services, into the corporate world where they partner with organizations to offer health check-up packages for the workforce. They forge long term partnerships with corporates by offering tele consultation other services to the workforce. Diagnostic centres should play the role of an advisor, hand-holding the patients and guiding them for maintaining good health.
2. Your view of the Covid-19 challenges and opportunities thereafter?
Ans: The COVID-19 pandemic is holding the world hostage. This is an unprecedented situation, the globe has never witnessed before, bringing economies around the world to a grinding halt. There are host of challenges the pandemic has posed to people. The fear of contracting the virus; mental stress; restrictions on free movement; unsure if this pandemic will ever go away and last but not the least half-baked information people hear about cure for the virus.
Interestingly, as in every situation, any challenge brings with it learnings for the future. One of the biggest learning is adopting a more cautious approach in our daily lives; consciously practising social distancing; build a strong immunity to shield you from any infection and maintaining health and hygiene. People today are more aware of their health as a result. Immunity is top of mind along with other lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity that could weaken the body’s response to the virus. As diagnostic companies, we have a key role to play in helping people improve the quality of their lives.
3. Challenges faced by Medall during the lockdown
Ans: As is the case with every industry / sector which faced a shut-down of operations, Medall being a service provider and falling under essential services, the lockdown posed unique challenges. We had to adhere to the government rules by suspending our operations temporarily. Only a few branches of our centres functioned with skeletal staff to cater to the requirements of those wanting diagnostic services. With the alarming rise of COVID cases in Chennai, we are witnessing a steep increase in the number of daily tests for COVID-19. To a large extent we compensated the fall in traffic in our centres through an effective home collection offering which is free for our customers.
4. Initiatives or programs launched by Medall
Ans: As the forerunner in preventive healthcare, Medall has always been leading from the front with unique and innovative health check-up packages. Our most recent initiative is the Back to Work package to ascertain the health of the workforce as offices and manufacturing sectors are getting ready to commence operations. Additionally, we have also partnered with the Sidha Institute to evaluate the effectiveness of Sidha medicines on COVID-19.
5. What is “Back to Work package?
Ans: As the name suggests, the package is aimed to assess the health status of the workforce to return to their work places and also to cost effectively check for any infections which can potentially put a person at a higher risk of contracting other infections, and probably even COVID-19.
6. The idea behind launching this package?
Ans: At a time when workspaces were beginning to restart their operations, the main priority was to make the work place safe and secure. We came up with the Back to Work package with some key tests which will serve as an indicator of the health of the employee to get back to work or if the employee requires medication / other tests. Compared to the COVID-19 test, the Back to Work package is a more cost effective option enabling organizations to offer this to its work force as an added benefit. This package came with a protocol for continuous testing, frequent testing and support through telemedicine to identify symptoms which would warrant the COVID PCR test.
7. Given the fact that COVID testing is expensive and also the stigma attached to it, what gap does this package aim to address?
Ans: The “Back to Work” package serves as the first step in ascertaining the health condition of an individual and evaluating his/her preparedness to be back at their workplaces. Suitable for office and factory workforce personnel and even for individuals alike, the package has four checks-ups – temperature; complete blood count (CBC) with Neutrophil and Lymphocyte ratio (NLR); SpO2 and C – Reactive Protein (CRP). This is backed by a continuous evaluation of these parameters, a robust teleconsultation platform and where required a RT-PCR test.
Temperature is the first indicator of a body’s defensive response to fight an infection and a significant indicator of COVID symptoms. The CBC is a haematology test which enumerates red cells, white cells and platelets. Any infection shows changes in the count of total leukocytes (white blood cells) with altered neutrophils to lymphocytes ratio. The ratio goes up in infected individuals. SpO2 is a measure of oxygen saturation in the blood. This can be easily measured using pulse oximeters. Lung Infections alter the lung function and cause changes in blood oxygen saturation levels. CRP is an acute phase reactant protein, which is a potential inflammatory marker that can be used to identify any internal inflammation or tissue damage.
Any variation from the normal reading of any of these parameters, signals an infection, which if not addressed in a timely manner can trigger other infections/ailments putting the individual at higher risk of contracting COVID. The Back to Work package serves as the ideal cost effective first level screening take precautionary measures and nip the probability of a bigger problem, in the bud.
Like any screening of this nature, it is important that employers continue to test for temperature and oxygenation every day. The test for infections should be on a continuous basis as infections could arise anytime. Continuous tele-consultation with doctors is a must. This virus is constantly evolving and in case of any contact or the slightest doubt, a RT PCR is the gold standard.
8. How is it going to benefit the company and employees?
Ans: As mentioned earlier, organizations want to ensure the work place is free from any sort of infection. Since the package is a low cost one, organizations offer the check up to their employees as an additional benefit without straining the finances. For employees, the Back to Work package helps them to know their health condition and take quick, corrective measures / treatment. It also depends on regulations. For instance in Chennai, the government mandated the use of PCR test. It is however important that companies consider a back to work protocol even after a PCR test as an infection can occur anytime.
9. How many companies are tied up so far?
Ans: Under the Back to Work package we have tied up with about 10 organizations, with workforce strength ranging from 1000 to 10,000.
10. Your future plans?
Ans: As the leading and integrated diagnostics service provider, we will continue to come up with more innovative health check-up packages for every section of the society. As mentioned earlier, we have collaborated with Sidha Institute to understand the efficacy of Sidha Medicines on COVID-19.
