Swayam AHM can help people to walk in and test for a wide range of medical parameters
While access to diagnostics services is a huge problem in India, Pritam Kumawat, Founder Director & CEO Sanskritech Smart Solutions and his team with their advanced Anytime Health Monitoring (AHM) kiosk aims to bring in easy access for basic healthcare at affordable cost. In a conversation with Raelene Kambli, Kumawat also reveals his future plans for his start-up
What is your rationale behind establishing Swayam? What is the kind of need that you are serving?
We are living in the age where digital transformation is taking place almost in everything every day. Healthcare industry is also one of them. Currently we have the best of technologies and healthcare experts available in India. But access to basic healthcare is a still major concern. Our entire focus is on treating diseases and not preventing them. Any disease turns severe because there is no early diagnosis. Situations and reasons are different in rural and urban areas but the problem is same in both. And the need to bridge this gap gave birth to Swayam.
Swayam was a genuine seek of how we can evolve over our current limitations in addressing the healthcare needs of our society, create a better, more favourable ecosystem to live in, and consider ourselves to be advancing and evolving in our way of life in true sense.
And the challenge was how we can achieve this using our current capabilities in science, technology and medicine. Are they enough to bring the desired change? Or do we need to first evolve them to a certain level? The answer, was both. We have created a platform from where we can make a real qualitative difference to the way we live and survive. But we also need to build upon it and overcome certain limitations of our current capabilities if we have to reap the complete benefits of the tremendous potential that we have built for ourselves.
This is where and how Swayam comes in as a product that is only a logical manifestation of our intelligence in taking our existence as human beings to a level where it can be defined as – more human than ever before. Swayam is our collective way of saying and showing that we care for each other in a better way, not on grounds of human compassion alone, but on grounds of self realisation that it is only by caring for each other in more ways than any other species, is what makes us humans in the first place.
You say that the Swayam ATM will solve the rural and urban problem. Can you elaborate how?
Access to quality healthcare is one of the fundamental human necessities and rights in today’s times. But not everyone is fortunate to have such services nearby. India which makes up 17 per cent of world’s population and faces a significant burden of diseases. At the high end, India has world class doctors, clinics and technologies, and attracts international medical tourists in growing numbers. However, even today, majority of India’s population to the basic healthcare facilities. Most of the population fail to take preventive measures on time because of delay in diagnosis.
Reasons for delay in diagnosis:
- Negligence
- Inaccessibility to healthcare infrastructures
- Lack of or absence of healthcare infrastructure
- Lack of awareness
- Paucity of manpower (doctors, Nurses, paramedics, etc.)
- Lack of time
Swayam AHM, can help people to walk in and test for a wide range of medical parameters, consult enlisted doctors with their test reports that are made available instantly. Our mission is to create an easy access for basic healthcare at affordable cost for everyone. With the help of Swayam, people who are leaving in rural places will be able to diagnosis issues at early stage and also will be able to connect doctors who are in cities and that to at affordable cost and in less time.
What is the scope you envisage for Swayam in the POCT market in India?
Medical devices industry in India has the potential to grow at 28 per cent p a to reach $ 50 bn in next couple of years. We see huge opportunity as a business growth for Swayam in two ways, Swayam as a product and Swayam as service model. In coming months, we are launching different variants of Swayam to cater all sizes of the industry. But our main focus will be on creating an easy access for basic healthcare by using best of technologies available globally.
Whom do you see as major competitor for you?
As of now we are the only company who has created a platform with over 60 tests parameters in the global market. We have been receiving response globally. However, there are companies in the market who are manufacturing basic units but our solution is far ahead compared to their solution. Currently our major competition is with our own self. We are striving to do better than what we have done.
You say that your goal is to reduce the burden on physicians and health centres by delivering health care more quickly, conveniently, and cost-effectively to patients. But how would you monetise your business? And how would you sustain in the long run?
We have different business models for continuous revenue and growth. We not only manufacture Swayam but we also have a division which offers Swayam As A Service model (SAAS). We are also coming up with Swayam’s digital clinic franchise model in the next quarter. Consumables supply, Doctor’s video consultation services, advertising through Swayam will be additional sources of revenue.
What is your plan to disrupt the POCT diagnostic market?
We never thought about disrupting and market or industry. We are here to improve the current situation of people’s health by creating an easy access for them to get healthcare facilities with our solution. However, this will definitely give boost to the POCT diagnostic market. Swayam is an attempt to empower doctors and pathology labs so that they can give better and quick services to the users.
What changes would you like to see in the approval and regulation of in vitro diagnostics in future?
Changes are already happening rapidly. Entire industry is under transformation. Fortunately government is also in favour of digitisation. They are bringing many reforms in healthcare industry. However, people from the healthcare industry should now accept these changes with openness and adapt new technologies rather than just sticking to conventional methods of serving people.
What are your expectations from your business in the next five years?
Market size for our solution is like an ocean, very difficult to know the depth. We see huge potential and growth not only by selling our units but also offering by our services. We want to see ourselves in every corner of India where people can just walk in and keep a track on their health. We are also expanding our reach in the Middle East and African market as there is huge demand for our solution.