5 Essential Steps to Start Your Own Pathological Lab

The healthcare industry in India has seen significant growth in recent years. Rapid commercialisation has introduced many privately owned healthcare facilities across the country. It has also brought a significant increase in the number of ancillary industries like a prescription drug store, care options, and diagnostics and pathological labs.

The medical diagnostics market is growing at a rate of 15% to 20% every year. A recent study places the market worth approximately Rs. 40,000 Crore in 2018. New rules made acquiring a licence for pathology lab much easier, making it one of the bestbusiness ideas in India to tap into the growing healthcare industry.

Starting your pathological lab

You have to go through several steps to start your path labs in India. These generally involve setting up the necessary arrangement, calculating the cost of an establishment, and acquiring the necessary paperwork to start a pathological lab.

Let’s take a look at how to open a pathology lab and what are the steps required.

• Planning –

Proper planning is one of the most crucial steps to start a path lab. You have to decide on the scope, capacity, and services provided by your path lab.

Pathological labs generally provide various services like clinical pathology, cytopathology, histopathology, serology, haematology, biochemistry, etc. Your clinic’s facility, equipment, personal, expenditure, and even necessary licence for pathology lab will change according to these services provided.

• Creating the infrastructure –

Another crucial step is to decide the infrastructure required for your pathological lab. A pathological lab should include a patient waiting area, dedicated lab and processing space, separate examination spare, storage area, and segregated sample collection and disposal areas.

However, creating the necessary infrastructure can put a significant financial strain on your budget. Several aspects like land acquisition, creating a workspace, etc. will be included in the process. Even renting a suitable place in an urban area will require significant financial backing.

You can opt for a business loan to tackle such monetary requirements without depleting your savings. Several financial institutions including NBFCs like Bajaj Finserv offer such loans with attractive features and benefits. Bajaj Finserv even provides pre-approved offers on credits like business loans as well as personal loans, home loans, and several other financial products. Such offers simplify the process of availing finance and help you save time. You only have to share some essential details online to check your pre-approved offer.

• Procuring licence and registration –

You will have to acquire the necessary licence for the pathology lab after completing the planning process. You will also have to comply with some basic and some legal requirements based on the state you will open your business in. Here is a list of the licences you will require.

1. Registration under the Shops and Establishments Act.
2. Registration under the Clinical Establishment Act.
3. Permission from the Director of Health Services.
4. Accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration.
5. Registration under Biomedical Waste Disposal Body.
6. Accreditation from Good Clinical Practices.
7. Approval for waste generation from the local Pollution Board.
8. No Objection Certificate from the local Fire department.
9. No Objection Certificate from the local municipality.

• Procuring equipment and consumables –

The machinery required for your pathology lab will differ according to the types of services you offer. However, some common equipment includes –

1. Fridge.
2. Centrifuge.
3. Incubator.
4. Pipettes.
5. Autoclave.
6. Sterilisation equipment.
7. Lab management software to automate billing, payment, data handling, and report generation.

You will also need a large stock of disposables like a hypodermic syringe, consumables for blood collection, sterilised medical wear, etc.

• Hiring the necessary staff –

You will require a team of experienced and qualified staff to keep your lab operational. The pathological lab will also require a qualified signatory or an MD pathologist or a microbiologist to comply with the regulations enforced by the NABL or Clinical Establishment Act.

These are some of the essentials that a checklist for how to start a pathology lab must include. The above mentioned steps will act as a guideline to help you organise the necessary equipment and financing to start your venture into the Medicare industry.