Thiruvananthapuram: HLL Lifecare Ltd, a Government of India enterprise, has made a silent revolution in medical care by providing affordable treatment to the people in the state. Lifecare Ltd’s Hindlabs Diagnostics Centre and Specialty Clinic set up opposite the Medical College here at a cost of Rs 10 crore has become a boon to the city dwellers, especially the geriatric patients as they provide home visits at affordable rates.
HLL Lifecare Ltd, which was earlier known as Hindustan Latex Ltd, has come a long way from the days when it was producing condoms and contraceptives. After the successful initiative of HLL Pharmacy and Surgicals and HLL Opticals, the PSU decided to venture into diagnostic labs in view of the unethical practices followed in private diagnostic labs. Hindlabs is planning to open around 20 satellite blood collection centres in and around Thiruvananthapuram in three months to reach the masses.
Its USP is that it is open 24 hours and top doctors come under one roof for its super-specialty outpatient department services, including general medicine, diabetology, ENT, gastroenterology, nephrology, ophthalmology, pulmonology, cardiology, dermatology, paediatrics and orthopaedic clinics. The OPDs operate in two shifts from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“Our motto is quality service at affordable rates. We are not here to compete with the private sector but we are trying to match the Advanced Clinical Research (ACR) laboratories under the state government. HLL’s network is bigger compared to ACR labs as we procure medicines, surgical implants and optical in large volume without taking any profit,” said a top official of HLL Lifecare Ltd.
Usually, leading private hospitals here charge anything from Rs 500 and above for home visits depending on the tests. Ms N. Kamala Bai, a pensioner who lives in Vellayambalam, sought the services of HLL Hindlabs. The lab technician visited her twice on a day to check her blood routine and for random tests along with urine culture. “I was surprised when they charged only Rs 1,290 for a number of tests which included '200 for home visits. I have been giving between Rs 500 and Rs 800 for home visits to a leading private hospital at Pattom,” she said.
HLL Pharmacy and Surgicals has already been functioning next to the medical college where mostly surgical implants and drugs are being sold at affordable rates. It has its branches in Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur and Kozhikode medical colleges as well. HLL Opticals was started first in the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology here. It has its branches at Gitanjali Hospital, Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram, Pathanamthitta, Vatakara, Koyilandy and Kozhikode.
