We Are Early Adopters Of Technological Breakthroughs: Dr Pramod Dhembare

What inspired you to start Fidelity Diagnostics? How has the journey been so far?

Being born and brought up in a rural middle-class family, I realized that my fellow human beings did not have access to complete health coverage and were being deprived of affordable and appropriate health products (be it imaging, etc) at the time of health emergencies. With this in mind, I founded Fidelity Diagnostics in 2011; a medical imaging venture focused on providing cost-effective radiology services to doctors, hospitals and their patients. It currently employs close to 60 passionate radiologists, pathologists, technicians, customer service specialists and business development teams.

In 2015, centres of Fidelity Diagnostics got accreditation from NABH, which was an endorsement for practising the highest level of quality care toward our patients and the same high level of quality in our business practices. We have been providing high-end medical imaging and pathology services to >5000 referring doctors and >300000 patients during the span of the last 10 years. We have also been innovators in doing specialized radiology procedures like MRI Defaecography and MRI studies on obstructive sleep apnoea.

Tell us how Fidelity Diagnostics is positioned differently as compared to other players in the diagnostics space?

Because of our enduring reliance, patronage of our doctors and the faith of our patients, Fidelity Diagnostics has now become a trusted and reliable name in this field of Medical imaging in the western part of India.

We are early adopters of technological breakthroughs like cloud-based LIMS and advanced PACS and teleradiology platforms, which ensures faster and better service to our customers.

Fidelity’s clinical trial diagnostic services have helped pharmaceutical companies to conduct proof of concept studies and evaluate their novel products for efficacy and safety in the shortest possible time with a significant cost advantage.

Fidelity has centres, which have been set up in hospital premises as well as on a standalone basis? How has this experience been so far?

Two of our centres in Pune and Goa are hospital-based and are showing good year-on-year growth in revenues. In both cases, these hospitals (mid-sized, 100-200 bedded) have entered into contracts with us for 10 years for the operation and management of medical imaging and pathology departments wherein we have a revenue share arrangement with them. Our standalone centre in Pune is a full-fledged centre providing radiology, pathology and cardiology diagnostic services under one roof. It benefits from higher walk-ins of direct patients for all types of diagnostic services.

Let us know about the annual turnover of the firm? What is your business expansion plan?

We would be touching around 14 crores in revenues in this financial year ending March 2022. Speaking of the future, we have plans to expand our pathology vertical this year by getting our Goa reference lab NABL accredited, expansion of in-house test portfolio, setting up our second reference laboratory in Pune and growth in collection centres pick up points across Pune and Goa regions.

Besides partnering with more mid-size hospitals for the operation and management of their radiology setups and pathology labs, we are investing in business development initiatives wherein we would be offering radiology services at discount through digital marketing campaigns, which will help us to tap patients from distant areas in Pune and Goa and broaden the geographic reach beyond the current catchment area.

Please throw some light on the partnership model that you adopt to associate with your clients.

Fidelity Diagnostics is aligned with the diagnostic needs of healthcare providers.

In case of arrangements with the hospitals for operation and management of medical imaging centres,

- We would typically tie-up with the mid-size hospitals (100-200 beds) for 10-year tenure who have already invested in diagnostic equipment and would like to partner with expert diagnostics to run their set-up efficiently.

- The hospital typically provides rent-free space along with exclusive rights to operate and manage already existing medical imaging equipment (CT, MRI etc) and access to its utilities and other infrastructure.

- We propose a revenue-sharing arrangement with the hospital from both the hospital cases and outside referrals.

In case of arrangements with the hospitals for operation and management of pathology labs (HLM-Hospital lab management),

- Hospitals, which lack the expertise, licenses, resources or scale to operate onsite clinical laboratories efficiently often, seek to enter into laboratory management agreements for 10 years.

- Under these arrangements, we establish and manage in-hospital clinical laboratories to conduct onsite routine testing and provide offsite support for more complex testing needs through our laboratory network on a revenue-sharing basis.

- The hospital typically provides rent-free space and access to its utilities and other infrastructure, and we provide the diagnostic equipment (fully automated analyzers etc).

What is your strategic vision for Fidelity both in the near term and longer term?

As a medic, my passion is for improving the lives of patients by helping the medical fraternity in faster and accurate diagnosis of medical ailments. At the same time, I am committed to continuing Fidelity’s profitable growth and creating opportunities for all our colleagues and value for our clients. My strategic vision is to bring these two things together to grow successfully as a leader in the diagnostics services business.

What suggestions do you have for an Indian healthcare system to deal with the probable third wave of COVID-19?

The third wave could be coming in a span of the next 6-8 weeks and we may see a few more and discrete waves in the coming years. Here are a few suggestions to deal with the probable third wave.

- Be fully prepared in terms of infrastructure and facilities, ensuring that our public health system is efficient in managing any surge in cases.

- Speed up the vaccination programme by reducing gaps between two doses, allowing quicker vaccination of a larger section of the population.

- Ensure that proper scientific treatment protocols are implemented in the treatment of COVID-19 cases.