Neuberg Diagnostics, India’s fourth-largest diagnostics lab chain, the best-in-class laboratories across India, the UAE, South Africa, and the USA have united under the banner of Neuberg Diagnostics, to bring the latest technology and techniques within the reach of developing countries. Utilizing their combined strengths, Neuberg Diagnostics brings capabilities to perform over 6000 varieties of pathological investigations and promotes Prevention & Early Diagnosis, Focused Wellness Programs, and Structured Disease Management programs for rare diseases using the most advanced technologies, assisted by data science and AI tools.
Since its inception, besides starting Greenfield labs, it had also acquired Anand Diagnostic Laboratory in Bengaluru, SupratechMicropath Laboratory in Ahmedabad, Ehrlich Laboratory in Chennai, and A.G. Diagnostics Laboratory in Pune, to expand its presence across India. In addition, it has also acquired Global Labs in South Africa and Minerva Diagnostics in Dubai, to expand its footprint in the global arena.
Neuberg Diagnostics roped in an ace cricketer, MS Dhoni, as a brand ambassador for the next two years. He will advocate for Neuberg’s health and wellness campaign and convey its efforts towards empowering every citizen with better and affordable healthcare. At the event, MS Dhoni, Former India Skipper and Captain of Chennai Super Kings said, “The leaders at Neuberg are committed to providing affordable healthcare across India, and that really struck me. It is a promising brand, and it’s a pleasure to be associated with the team and their various programs aimed at providing access to quality and affordable healthcare. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, they have taken up the campaign to raise awareness about health and wellness across age groups. I personally feel that these efforts are important and deserve to be advocated.”
In an exclusive chat with MediaNews4U Aishwarya Vasudevan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Neuberg Diagnostics, speaks on the growth of Neuberg.
The Growth OfNeuberg Diagnostics?
In 2017, Neuberg Diagnostics began its journey of making advanced diagnostic tests available. Currently present in 4 countries and 250 cities, Neuberg Diagnostics has made 6000+ diagnostic tests available to millions. During the first wave of COVID-19, Neuberg was the first private lab to get an ICMR approval for RT-PCR testing, placing the lab chain at the forefront of the fight against the pandemic.
Apart from becoming an international diagnostic chain, Neuberg Diagnostics is known for improving the quality of diagnostic care, by ushering in standardization and technological advances. With 3 global centres of excellence in virology, digital pathology, and genomics, which act as innovation hubs, Neuberg ensures specialized testing procedures for all samples collected across its 120+ labs and 1000+ touchpoints.
Neuberg Diagnostics is the 4th largest diagnostic chain in India and is projected to generate a revenue of INR 1000 Crores by FY22, making it amongst one of the fastest growing healthcare organizations in India.
The pandemic has made us all realize how important our health is, what are the trends you are seeing in India and globally when it comes to health and wellness?
Health has become the top priority for people around the world, ever since the pandemic. . As health awareness levels rose, more people have begun understanding the importance of preventive healthcare, and have taken measures to enhance their health and well-being.
Immunity-boosting food: Apart from staying at home more often, many people have changed their eating habits. About 40% of consumers have already taken steps to protect their immunity, by eating healthy foods and beverages. Foods considered healthy, including supplements and vitamins, are also more popular.
At-Home fitness: With more people desiring to improve their health and wellness, at-home gyms have become the new health trend, which is here to stay. During the first wave of the pandemic, there was a 46% average increase in downloads of health and wellness apps around the world, with India leading other countries with a 156% increase. This has been coupled with a surge in online searches and purchase of gym equipment, with 80% of the sales made by people who are building a gym, at home.
Telemedicine: The healthcare ecosystem is shifting towards virtual healthcare, with a forecasted 15-20% of the healthcare services becoming purely digital. The demand for instant access to doctors, at-home diagnostic tests, and medicine delivery services, has improved online care, which is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 31%, and will reach a valuation of $5.4 Bn by 2025.
In your category i.e. Diagnostic, what are the trends that you are seeing in customer behavior?
Diagnostics is evolving to be more customer-friendly; at-home diagnostics is the major trend in the diagnostic landscape in. Based on customer conveniences, we have introduced various testing options such as home collection, Walk-in kiosks, and drive-through.
The overwhelming demand for RT PCR tests is also making self-testing popular. While self-testing is yet to rise in India, with the faster pace in government approvals and initiatives, it is likely that self-testing for COVID-19 would soon become widespread, similar to how diabetes self-testing kits are being used, currently.
The latest campaign with MS Dhoni, what made you zone in on him?
Due to the pandemic, staying healthy is not easy anymore. However, if people begin seeking medical advice and closely monitoring their health, they can reduce their risk of health diseases.
In India, especially, many people are unaware of various healthcare services, and when they should get medical help. India needs to get proactive with healthcare NOT reactive. With MS Dhoni as Neuberg’s brand ambassador, we hope to engage with people across age groups and geographies, inspire them to stop ignoring their health, and take the right steps to prevent diseases, on time.
The campaign will also educate the public on the importance of preventive healthcare and available diagnostic services.
Today digital is at the forefront, what will be the marketing strategy and media mix for this campaign?
This global campaign is designed to elicit meaningful conversations across age groups on the internet. With a mix of both inspiring and informational content featuring MS Dhoni, the campaign would make people more proactive and encourage them to start using preventive healthcare services.
Humanistic Approach: With MS Dhoni emphasizing the importance of prevention, the campaign is designed to inspire people to stop ignoring their health and access healthcare services, on time. We believe that this will encourage people to prioritize their health.
Omnichannel marketing and long-term content: Through its social media and other digital platforms, Neuberg will create varied content assets that will help people improve their understanding of diagnostic testing, along with insights to prevent diseases.
Video Content: Neuberg will also engage the younger population with short video content that would encourage them to think about their health while addressing common questions about lifestyle diseases and prevention. This also includes engaging content designed for Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Where do you see Neuberg Diagnostic in the next 2-3 years?
With three global reference labs in Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, and Durban, we focus on futuristic tests involving Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Molecular Biology, and Digital Pathology. With a center of excellence for Genomics, AI, and Data Analytics, we aim to make diagnostics affordable and accessible.
We plan to open technology incubation centers in the USA and Europe to access the latest technologies and make developing countries ready for precision diagnostics in the evolving personalized medicine arena.
The Pandemic and Lockdown have seen a tectonic shift in people’s behavior, how as a leader you coped with it personally and professionally?
The pandemic has stressed the healthcare ecosystem but has also paved the way for innovations. Across the last 2 years, there have been many opportunities to make difference such as when we started doing the COVID test we are hardly doing 5000 tests a day and today we can do more than 75000 RTPCR tests in a day. I have been working to solve challenges to make quality diagnostics available and affordable to one and all as even today the reach of quality diagnostics is not evenly spread across the country especially in smaller towns. With the possibility of a third wave looming over the world, I am working to strengthen the footprint across the country along with building capabilities to battle these hard times.
