The concept of eye chains is seen to be a viable business model in ophthalmology care in India. This is because such a platform enables sustained patient inflow and captures value for itself in terms of reliability and safety, said Dr. Adil Agarwal, CEO, Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals.

Even in multispecialty and government hospitals, ophthalmology is housed in a separate building because it is considered a critical and a niche component in healthcare. In addition to ophthalmologists, there are specially trained team of paramedics, nursing and other staff to handle not just basic eye tests but trauma and complicated procedures. This is where a chain of eye hospitals under a single brand stands to gain as a sustainable business model, Dr. Agarwal told Pharmabiz.

Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals has opted for partnering with local stand-alone ophthalmic clinics to strength its chain. The new facility which was recently opened at Indiranagar in Bengaluru to offer Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE), is one such. It is an advanced centre offering the latest myopic refractive error correction procedure and it belonged to Dr. Rajesh BTJ, who now is the medical director of this unit. “The clinic chain model can be easily scaled up in terms of technology and talent. It is advantageous, more so for the existing patients of the erstwhile ophthalmic practitioner’s clinic from whom we take over the operations because it ascertains a reliability from the point of view of access to latest equipment and expertise,” he added.

The need of the hour is eye care awareness and quicker access to care in the neighbourhood. “We are expanding our network at a fast pace. We are planning to open around 5 centres across the state and are entering Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha and Kolkata this financial year,” said Dr. Agarwal.

Currently, the 59-year-old Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals has 15 branches in Chennai and a visible footprint in the states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Andaman and Rajasthan. A tertiary eye care centre at Mauritius marked its maiden entry into the international arena which was extended to 13 branches across the Indian Ocean region, African countries and East Asia.

Another move for the eye care chain has been to team up with state governments to access a larger population and prevent blindness through early detection. “Eye camps in rural areas have proven to be save scores of people serious ophthalmic diseases and disorders. Specific to Karnataka, the Yeshaswini health insurance scheme is a big component of the work we do,” said Dr. Agarwal.

As part of its efforts to provide advanced technology, Dr. Agarwal’s Group of Eye Hospitals has maximized the biomed-engineering talent in the country. The hospital is now strengthening its effort in biomedical research where a team of IIT graduates and experts from ophthalmic device sector are working to bring out indigenized versions of easy-to-use point-of-care solutions on the lines of a Fundus camera and a field analyzer for glaucoma diagnosis.