From Strength to Strength

Dr Sushil Shah set up Metropolis Health Services, India's first corporate referral laboratory, in 1981. Today, the group has a chain of 50 self-owned laboratories and also has opened branches outside India

Dr Sushil Shah (61) Founder and Chairman, Metropolis Health Services Private Limited, Mumbai

Born in 1946 in the city of Mumbai, Dr Sushil Shah completed his MD in Pathology and Bacteriology from Grants Medical, Mumbai. He is also a Research Fellow of Cornell Medical Centre, New York.

Why an entrepreneur?

"I always knew that in whichever field I choose to be in, I shall be the number one, even if it meant growing outside my domain. That's what made me an entrepreneur," says he.

Before being an entrepreneur

In 1979, he started his career at Mumbai's Cumballa Hill Hospital as a consultant pathologist. Soon, he was also working as consultant pathologist at Breach Candy Hospital, HN Hospital and Saifee Hospital. By 1989, he was also on board of directors on Dr Reddy’s Laboratory.

The first move

While he was working as a consultant pathologist, Dr Shah started 'Dr Sushil Shah's Lab' from a 200-square feet kitchen of a nursing home in Opera House in 1981. By 1993, however, he realised that due to his commitments with other companies, he was not able to focus on his own lab. "So, I decided to give up all other work and focus on building a world-class lab on my own," states he. To understand the dynamics of a world class lab, he visited reputed international labs like Quest and Specialty to understand layout, work arrangement, accreditation and quality assurance.

"From 1995 to 1999, I resigned from directorship of the companies and also gave up other consulting work at hospitals," he adds. By 1994, he shifted to a 2,000-square feet state-of-the art lab in Gamdevi, Mumbai. In 1996, he re-christened the name of his lab and gave it a more global name—Metropolis.

Over the years

The momentum for growth of the group picked up from the year 2000 onwards. This was due to two strategic moves. The first was when Dr Shah joined hands with a friend and colleague Dr GSK Velu in 2001. Six months later, Dr Shah's daughter Ameera decided to come back to India and helm the business development of the group. It is thus no surprise then that from Rs-7 crore turnover in 2000, today the turnover is Rs 150 crore.

He has explored various business models for growth. He has either acquired labs and modified them or tied up with hospitals to manage their labs. "I also tried out the option of tying up with local partners, but because of clash of interest, we have discontinued with that practice," he states. He wants to build a network of primary, secondary and tertiary laboratories. “Our primary laboratories has a test menu of over 150 tests, secondary ones over 450 tests and tertiary laboratories provide around 3,700 tests," explains Dr Shah. A few months back, he commissioned a 25,000-square feet state-of-the art laboratory in Chennai.

From just a neighbourhood path laboratory, today the services offered include clinical laboratory medicine, radiology and imaging services, hospital laboratory management, central laboratory services for clinical trials, site management services, home health services, preventive health check-ups and remote pathology testing services. The Mumbai laboratory is CAP, CLIA (USA), NABL, SANAS accredited and ISO 9002 certified.

The group has over 350 franchisees and provides referral services to over 20,000 laboratories, clinicians, hospitals and research institutions, across the country. Today, Metropolis provides over 3,700 specialised tests under a single roof ranging from oncology to genetics, molecular biology and immunoassays using best-of-breed and latest diagnostic equipment. It processes over 10 million tests per year.

"Metropolis will be present in every state of the India either through its own branch laboratories, franchisees, collection centers or its referral network," reveals Dr Shah.

It has 17 international laboratories in countries, including UAE, Sri Lanka and South Africa. It is recognised by Mumbai University for its PhD programme in association with Birla College. It has also tied up with SRMC, Chennai, MS Ramaiah Medical College, Bangalore, Meenakshi Mission, Madurai for conducting clinical trials and research.

Contribution to healthcare

Metropolis has a list of firsts in India. It was the first to offer comprehensive range of immunoassays by RIA, HIV testing in Mumbai, branch DNA technology, nephelometry, hi-tech thin prep layer preparations that enhance cell cytology for the diagnosis of FNAC and pap smears, real time SDS system, HIV drug resistance testing in Asia and HPLC for Thalassemia studies. It is also the first private laboratory in India to introduce flow cytometry.

Overcoming Roadblocks

Initially, Dr Shah found it difficult to hire executives who could execute his vision. "I needed to have a good leader and a team. We hired a CEO also, but it did not work out," says he. It was only when Dr Velu and Ameera joined him that Metropolis achieved what it had set out for.

Mistakes made and lessons learnt

He regrets not focusing on developing and expanding his own laboratory much before. "From 1985-1999, I was busy furthering business interests of other people. I should have utilised that time to expand my own group," he rues.

Tips for entrepreneurship

"Be ambitious, develop a good team, delegate, don't settle for anything but the best, hire only trained people and maintain high standards of excellence," says he.

An entrepreneur that he admires in healthcare

"Dr Anji Reddy of Dr Reddy's Lab for his vision and achievements in such a short time," says he.

The road ahead

Dr Shah is rolling out over 20 laboratories (both owned and hospital aboratories) by 2010. "We realised that we were reaching a dead-end in acquiring laboratories. There are not too many good laboratories left to be acquired. So, we are mainly focussing on greenfield projects," says he. "We are looking at a turnover of Rs 150 to Rs 180 crore by end of this fiscal. The long-term goal is to have a laboratories in every Indian city and also consolidate our international presence," discloses Dr Shah.