Diagnostics now Simplify with Launch of MyLabYogi.com

Operational since Jan 2012, Mylabyogi.com was set up with the objective of ‘Simplifying Diagnostics’ for the customer. Very early in their careers, Novella Laurence and Aneesh Khanna realized that ‘Standardized Customer Care’ was something that was grossly missing in the overall Healthcare Sector.In conversation with Abhilasha Dafria for YourStory.in, Novella tells us more about how has embarked on a journey of starting up a venture in the healthcare sector.

Novella, please introduce Mylabyogi.com to our readers.

Mylabyogi.com allows customers to book a diagnostic test online and decide from a list of quality & reputed laboratories across the city, where they would want their tests to be processed. The customer gets information on the Location of the Laboratory, Laboratory Accreditation, Test Pricing and Report Delivery Time, which helps him in making the laboratory decision.

Mylabyogi has its own team of well trained technicians who collect the sample from the home/office of the customer and deliver it to the laboratory of the customer’s choice, through a team of logistics officers, who are equipped with appropriate temperature controlled transport kits.

Tell us about the innovative work that MyLabYogi is doing in the healthcare sector. Could you tell us a little about your tie-ups?

We currently have tie ups with 7 laboratories and Diagnostic centres in Mumbai. We soon plan to take this number to 12-14 labs, which cover the entire city.

Many of these labs have been around for more than 2 decades and are accredited by NABL (India Accreditation, given by Dept of Science and Technology, GOI).

Mylabyogi also offers ECG at home using a portable ECG machine which can transmit the ECG readings wirelessly with the help of a Wi Fi hot spot router, which is carried by the ECG technician.

What challenges do you face in this space? Isn’t a venture in the healthcare sector a sensitive matter?

Healthcare is a sensitive area, because customers lean on you for delivering a service at a time when they are unwell and need medical guidance and diagnostic tests. Our experience in the Diagnostics domain helps us be sensitive to patient care, quality protocols, technician safety, government guidelines and Partner Laboratory requirements.

What measures do you take to ensure safety?We employ the best industry practices- Quality of collection material (FDA Approved) from Becton Dickinson and disposables like syringes, needles, gloves, alcohol swabs etc.; Standard Operating Procedures for sample collection & transportation as per OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute.; Technician safety: All our technicians go through pre-employment checkups to rule out any existing/past infectious diseases. They have also been vaccinated for Hepatitis B. They have also been given an accident insurance of `2 lacs, which also covers ‘Out Patient’ care for small wounds/stitches etc. They use gloves to avoid any Needle Stick injuries, whereby they could be at risk of contracting an infectious disease from an infected patient.

We also maintain a bio hazard safety and disposal protocol - We have a license for Bio medical waste disposal and we follow those guidelines very strictly.

What is your clientele like?

We cater to all patients who need a home visit for blood collection and ECG. Our clientele would be spread across various types of patient needs such as Preventive healthcare; Diagnostics tests for patients with Lifestyle diseases like Diabetes and Cardiac disease; Patients who need regular diagnostics for chronic diseases like Kidney Disorders, Blood Disorders like Thalassemia, Haemophilia, Transplant patients, patients on treatment for Infertility or undergoing IVF procedures; Patients who need to monitor their health, post recovering from conditions /diseases /procedures; Patients who are very busy and need convenience of a home visit early in the morning or at their office and Patients who are immobile and senior citizens who would prefer to not physically go to a laboratory.

How does your revenue-model work?

We charge a flat fee of `75/- for the home visit from the customer. This is a flat rate all across the city. Additionally we get a channel transfer discount from our Partner Laboratories. For Diagnostics like ECG, which we conduct on our own, all revenues accrue directly from the customer.

 How big is your team consisting of how many professionals/experts/doctors?

We have a young team of 12 employees in Mumbai, out of which 6 employees are technicians and logistics officers. We intend to ramp up the field team to between 15-20 employees within the next 6-8 months.

Our Quality and Processes dept is headed by Dr Smitha Gawde, who is a PhD in Human Genetics with a Post Doctoral from University of Cincinnati.

Where are you based and where do you plan to expand?

We are currently based out of an office at Andheri East, Mumbai. We are aiming to scale up our operations to cities like Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and other metro cities where we find a need for such a service. We also intend to add more services to our bouquet of home diagnostic services.

What is your market size?

A study conducted in 2010-11 pegged the entire Diagnostic Sector in India at around `10,500 Cr, of which it was estimated that the pathology segment was around 52% and thus at over `5000 Cr. Our estimate is that around 90% of this market is the routine and the semi specialized testing, of which the top 20 cities from our estimate would account for around 40% of that market, which accounts for around `1900 Cr.

And a little about the brains behind the idea.

Between the co-founders, we have over 15+ years of experience of working with healthcare companies in the Primary Healthcare and Diagnostic space, across functions like corporate sales, marketing, corporate communication, brand strategy, franchisee management, clinic operations, sales administration and customer service.

So what inspired your business idea of a health care venture? 

We wanted to set up an organization that empowers customers with choice and convenience, while delivering a surprisingly refreshing and standardized quality of customer care in the healthcare/Diagnostics segment.

We also realized that there are a lot of quality and reputed laboratories in the major metros across the city, who would like to partner with a young service provider like us. These laboratories have a good brand name in their 4-5 km radius area, have customer patronage from the area and have build a reputation over many years. However these laboratories lacked access to customers outside their catchment area and also lacked sales/marketing expertise. Mylabyogi thus becomes a suitable partner for such laboratories.

How is MyLabYogi funded? Do you plan to raise more funds?

We are currently funded by the co-founding team’s personal funds. We do intend to raise some angel/seed capital which will propel the pace of growth and expansion across the metros.

Share some demographics please. Are there other players in the market doing similar things? What is your USP?

The National laboratory chains do offer home visit facilities. Similarly many city labs and diagnostic centres do offer some home visit facilities in their immediate 2-3 kms catchment area. What makes Mylabyogi different is the level of standardized customer care, which is not dependent on the technical capability of an individual technician, but in fact on a well thought out brand with systems and processes is the USP of the Mylabyogi home visit experience. Additionally Mylabyogi is different because it offers the choice and decision of the laboratory in the hands of the customer and allows the customer to make an unbiased and democratic decision.

- Abhilasha Dafria