Off the Beaten 'Path'

He took charge of his family-run laboratory in 1977. After six decades, the group has 31 laboratories, 650 sample collection centres and 1,550 sample pick-up points

Dr Arvind Lal (59) Chairman and MD, Dr Lal PathLabs Private Limited

Born in 1949, he did his medical and post graduate medical studies in Pathology at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune.

Why an entrepreneur?

In 1977, due to untimely death of Dr (Maj) SK Lal, his son and the current chairman and MD, Dr Arvind Lal took charge of the family-run lab. Dr SK Lal had set up Dr Lal PathLabs at Hanuman Road, New Delhi in 1949. When the junior Dr Lal held the reins, he introduced modern tests and fully automated the labs. "I wanted to take innovations across the country and cater to a large cross section of our society. Thus, my next step was to go national and that's how I ended up being an entrepreneur," says he.

Before being an entrepreneur

He was a Demonstrator (Assistant Professor) in Pathology and Microbiology at the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. "This job, at the AFMC, involved teaching of medical undergraduates and other para-medical trainees and also being the warden of the student's hostel," says he. After three years with AFMC, he quit his job to join his family-run lab.

The first move

When he took over the lab in 1977, it had a work load of about 30 patients in a day.

He embarked upon a modernisation programme keeping in view the rapid global advancements in the field of laboratory medicine. Constant upgradation of equipment, introduction of newer diagnostic parameters, automation and strict quality assurance were the hallmarks of his commitment.

Over the years

"Over the years, the work load has jumped to 9,000 patients in a day. This entailed opening up 35 laboratories, 650 sample collection centres, and 1,550 sample pick-up points," says Dr Lal.

As a part of innovation in transporting samples all over the country, he also had to design a special ice-cooled sample transportation box that would keep the temperature between two and eight degrees centigrade for upto 48 hours. "We had to organise a well oiled and greased logistics network. In the process, we also introduced a very sophisticated Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) that connected the collection centres and the satellite labs with the main hub in Delhi," says he. Till 2005, he managed funding exclusively by internal accruals and debt and from 2005 onwards, from equity. "Our equity partners are Sequoia Capital and this was our first foray in the healthcare sector," he adds.

Contribution to healthcare

Under his guidance, the lab has pioneered an array of new tests in India. It is the first lab in India to install the most sophisticated lipid profile analysis for coronary artery disease, the LDL sub-fractions, first lab in India and infact Asia to introduce Bayer's Centaur and Abbot Architect for sophisticated hormonal immunoassays (thyroid tests etc, first lab in India to install Triple G (now GE) laboratory software for inter and intra-lab connectivity, first lab to install Infra Red spectroscopy for kidney and gall stones analysis, first lab in India to introduce Gelman and Helena Electrophoresis for lipoproteins, proteins and haemoglobinopathies, first lab in India to install Coulter Dn and Maxm five part Haematology Analyser, first private lab in India to introduce HLA Tissue Typing for organ transplants, first lab in India to introduce RAST Testing— full Allergy panel, the first lab to digitise histopathology microphotographs for embedding with the histopath reports, first in South Asia to start diagnosing the dreaded inborn errors of metabolism for newborns and many others.

Awards

He has also been bestowed with 'The Lifetime Achievement Award in Healthcare,' 'The Delhi Rattan Award', ‘Indira Gandhi Solidarity Award’ and many others.

Fears and apprehensions

His biggest fear was about importation of sophisticated equipment. "In the late 70s and early 80s, this involved a very cumbersome procedure for the grant of an import license that could well take up a minimum of six months. Also, the harrowing experience at the hands of customs department those days was a big dampener! Then onwards things changed for the better, especially when Dr Manmohan Singh became the Finance Minister in the Narsimha Rao Government," he recollects. "Also the heavy import duty on the reagents and the equipment was always weighing in our decision to introduce more diagnostic tests," he further adds.

His second apprehension was the inordinately-long procedure in getting loans from the nationalised banks. "This went on till mid-90s. Thereafter, these procedures became more client friendly,” says he.

Overcoming Roadblocks

His biggest roadblock was to find the much-needed extra space for expansion of ever increasing test menu which at 1,650 tests and panels is the biggest, offered by an Indian laboratory. This was finally accomplished with the acquisition of nearly one acre of prime laboratory space at Rohini, in North West Delhi after a wait of nearly 15 years! "This lab will be the biggest in Asia and shall be operational by mid-2009, coinciding with the completion of 60 years of our operations. It shall have a basement and five floors," says he.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

"I am, by nature, a very trusting person. I firmly believe that every human being is also a part of our common maker and thus should have a fair amount of goodness in him. This has led me to being less harsh on individuals whom I knew were not thinking of the good for the company at all times. I am not at all suggesting that one should not have love and compassion for other human beings but I am reiterating that unproductive and untrustworthy individuals should be shown the door sooner than later before they become a cancer in the system," says he.

Tips for entrepreneurship

He has a few practical advices to give. One must be adequately qualified academically to understand the nuances of a particular field or business. One should set for himself short achievable goals rather than big ones that may take an eternity to accomplish. One must do adequate research and planning before getting into a particular business. It is advisable to have some 'hands on experience' before jumping into the fray of becoming an entrepeneur,” says he.

An entrepreneur that he admires in healthcare

He admires Dr Prathap C Reddy's pioneering vision in establishing corporate hospitals, for being the provider of maximum numbers of beds on the Indian shores, for having a great team especially with all his four daughters who are great assets in running the mighty Apollo empire.

Road Ahead

"I intend to create a bigger 'dream team' that not only will consist of our current team members but also of many others, e.g other currently independent laboratories, hospital labs and state Governments (for Public Private Partnerships) that share the same goal as us," says he.

Additionally, he plans to have a total of 50 laboratories and 1,000 sample collection centres by 2010.