Carethics

EXCLUSIVE

Nishant Jain

“The Clinic” – network service provider, is enabling local doctors to scale up, give all round services and provide long term hand holding to their pateints. I spoke to their Director, Dr Ankit Khambhati about their service model and expansion plans.

Me: What is the concept of ‘The Clinic’? How did you come upon the idea?
Dr Ankit: One of our Directors, a GP himself thought of the idea with his colleagues while considering the need for standardization of primary healthcare. That's when we initiated this concept of network services. The Clinic gives local Doctors the power of brand, technology, and services with global standards. We provide services which patients need like lifestyle disease mgmt, day to day care and empower the GP to deliver this using the platform of a globally accredited software.

Me: How do you place yourself in the healthcare scenario in India?
Dr Ankit: A few years down the line, the most prevalent ailment in this country will be lifestyle diseases. In a hospital environment, disease management is not possible, such patients need proper handholding…which can only be provided through local doctors. A pro-patient approach is needed but not neccessarily possible in the current set-up. we hope to fill that gap and provide a personalised experience.

Me: What are your expansion plans?
Dr Ankit: Within 6 months of our operations, we have 76 clinics in 3 cities, ( 55 in Mumbai and few in Chennai and Ahmedabad). We plan to expand upto 10,000 clinics in 32 cities in the next 5 years.

Me: What's your revenue model?
Dr Ankit: We have a shared services model, or you can say our revenue comes from allied services like EMR, pharmacy, lab tests and insurance services.

Me: The way Indian healthcare industry is moving, now Apollo and Max are also setting up a retail presence, so how do you percieve the competition?
Dr Ankit: I think with time, Competition is only going to increase. But that will benefit the patients. As a grass root level player, we hope to be the gateway to the healthcare system. A family doctor is often the main source of referrals, we are enabling him/her to deliver an all round package to their regular patients.