There’s no doubt that coming years will ignite numerous health concerns and a subsequent rise in the existing diseases.
This, in turn, will increase the workload for pathologists and overall complexity. On the surface, the country’s pathology industry appears to be transformative; riding on the digital wave.
However, in reality, the industry remains fragmented, with approx. 50% revenue docked from stand-alone unorganized labs and small-scale operators, 15-20% from hospital-based labs and rest from organized labs.
As the unorganized sector continues to reign the industry, other hefty issues too add to the industry’s botheration.
India’s struggles through the current pandemic have shifted the focus to strengthen home-based diagnostics services to keep pace with the ebb and flow of the forthcoming health risks across the country.
The pandemic has fuelled the drive of telehealth services and has also increased interest in at-home sample collection and testing to avoid inconvenience and potential risk of exposure to the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus.
People are choosing convenient, cost-effective options for lab testing.
A few players are already working on the requirement and further innovating the pathology sector.
In this remote testing pathology services, Paresh Arun Shah found an opportunity to lead and how he can change the pathology experience for people around the country.
Beginnings
After completing his education in Pharmacy, Paresh joined his family business of food ingredient manufacturing where he would look after the production operations and infusing new ideas/products for the business.
He was accompanied by his brother, Pankaj Shah, who was an engineer by profession.
Both led their family business towards newer heights.
Later, in 2018, Paresh found his calling in the healthcare industry.
After some dry runs, Paresh, along with his brother Pankaj started a multi-brand pathology startup, Cresco Healthcare LLP in 2019.
He introduced a fresh concept; customized home-based pathology services.
Through Cresco, people can choose a pathology lab from a wide range available on Cresco’s platform.
The trained Phlebotomist from Cresco collects samples that get delivered to the lab selected by the client.
Finally, after the results, the reports are uploaded online and could be easily checked by people, without a hitch! A high-quality system, Cresco ensures high-quality results for its users, at the convenience of their place and time.
Determined to focus on filling a major gap in diagnostics activities in the country, Paresh is leveraging technology and analytics to reconstruct the old method of visiting labs for tests.
We interacted with the leader to gain more insights on Cresco’s offerings, its capability and the future ahead.
Edited Excerpts
What impact has COVID-19 had on the organization?
We started our journey in the early days of 2019 after understanding the need of the market- hospital labs, private labs and patients.
We successfully launched our pilot project in December 2019.
Soon the pandemic hit and as a result, we were unable to bring a new diagnostic brand- hospital/lab on our platform.
Things got delayed there, however, in August 2020, we jumped back and worked on our strategies and plans.
The pandemic also, helped the potential hospitals and labs to understand the need for this fresh concept and we have never looked back since then.
We are witnessing remarkable growth. Currently, we are looking ahead to tap new areas and bring more lab/hospital partners to our platform.
Post our validation and brick and mortar presence in Pune, we will replicate this further in other metro cities.
COVID-19 has uplifted the need for remote healthcare. How is your organization addressing the aforementioned demand? Any plans in line?
Our whole concept revolves around remote healthcare. If a patient is undergoing treatment in one hospital for any disease or disorder and requires repetitive tests, and is remotely located. In such a situation he might be needing some human assistance to get his tests done and then following up. The process becomes complex and burdensome. We are trying to cut the extra chase and making the sample testing process a smooth journey by providing a home-based service from the concerned lab/hospital, conveniently and cost-effectively. We are taking ahead of the concept of making good healthcare services reach the doorsteps of patients, rather than patients reaching out for a healthcare service provider.
The pandemic has certainly accelerated digital health reforms worldwide. However, there is still a long way to go. What’s the current status of your organization by the same?
Yes definitely the pandemic has accelerated digital health reforms, and as we can consider, this is our initial step in that direction.
In Cresco’s application, every patient gets his/her unique Userid and Password, and they can store their old medical records as well, which then becomes handy and easy to access.
According to you, which healthcare trends will take over in the post-COVID-19 world?
Regular health check-ups are the need of time.
Through preventive care, we can reduce, or control the adverse cases and comorbidity.
Lifestyle choices play a huge part as well.
We always go for maintenance service for our vehicles and machinery but ignore the same for ourselves. This needs to be changed for the better.
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What do you think is currently driving the healthcare industry forward in India?
Awareness and Digitization
What are your plans for the future? Specifically, what’s the next big thing for the organization?
Once our pilot setup gets completed in Pune, we will be looking ahead to expand PAN India, particularly in metro cities.
Kindly mention the milestones/recognition achieved so far by the organization?
To date, we have been successful in associating with 7 leading hospitals and private labs.
The plan is going well and we are in talks with a lot more.
We are glad that Cresco’s concept and approach have been acknowledged well and many leading healthcare services providers are ready to collaborate with us. Nothing more we can ask for!!
Finally, can you please share some advice or your favourite quote?
Keep it simple, transparent, and beneficial for all the classes in society. Change/revolution is the need of time.
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