Metropolis Health Services (I) Ltd, the corporatised diagnostics chain, will be investing Rs 4.5-5 crore in Kolkata to set up its first referral laboratory in this part of the country.
To begin with, it is opening a small facility at an investment of Rs 1.5 crore and this will be expanded over the next three years to offer the full range of over 3,600 routine and highly specialized tests, apart from imaging facilities, that the typical Metropolis centre offers.
Dr Sushil Shah, chairman of the Mumbai-based diagnostics major which has been on a national expansion since 2000, said he would have ideally liked to buy a good local laboratory and build on it or take over the facilities of a hospital, as it has done elsewhere in India.
“Unfortunately, in Kolkata, we did not get an opportunity for either of the two,” Shah said. The Kolkata lab will do 98% of the tests here, with only a few going out to other centres.
Promoted by Shah and Dr GSK Velu of Chennai, Metropolis has 34 full-fledged laboratories in India and 17 abroad, in locations like Dubai, Sharjah, Colombo, South Africa and Cape Town.
Shah said Metropolis is also looking at clinical trials as a business segment. According to him, the clinical trials market is projected to grow to $40 billion over the next five years, with at least 10% happening in India.
“We have conducted clinical trials for all major companies in India,” Shah said.
Another growth area for Metropolis would be oncology, for which the first lab is coming up in Mumbai.