SENSEX
NIFTY 50
Hang Seng
Taiwan Weighted
MCX GOLD APR 03
MCX SILVER MAY 05
USD/INR
EUR/INR80.0630

SENSEX
NIFTY 50
NIFTY MIDCAP 100
S&P BSE MIDCAP
Hang Seng
Taiwan Weighted
DAX
Nasdaq
MCX GOLD APR 03
MCX SILVER MAY 05
MCX CRUDEOIL APR 20
MCX NATURALGAS APR 27
USD/INR
EUR/INR
GBP/INR
JPY/INR

Indian markets closed today on account of Ram Navami

Asian shares slip as Donald Trump warns of horrors to come

Oil surges as Donald Trump talks up hopes for truce in Saudi-Russia price war

Rupee opens 13 paise higher at 75.52 against dollar

Business

COVID-19: Should do 15-20 tests initially, increase to 100 once more kits come, says Healthcare Global Enterprises

Updated : March 26, 2020 01:41 PM IST

With the coronavirus outbreak becoming more severe in the country, all eyes are on the healthcare space - be is pharma companies, hospitals etc.

Healthcare Global has a big presence in the cancer care segment. In the light of the current situation when asked if there been any tweak in the kind of patients and how the emergency team was positioned in coping up with that, BS Ajai Kumar, chairman & CEO, Healthcare Global Enterprises said, “So far we have not had any positive cases, which is good but there has been a drop in the number of new patients coming because of all the lockdown. Particularly, the patients those who have to come from distance are concerned because transportation issues are coming in the way. However, those patients under treatment are continuing. We have taken all the necessary precautions for safety of the patients and staff.”

He further said, “One positive thing is being in oncology, we deal with lot of infections and because of that we are ever-ready for managing infections not only patients but staff also because of that our preparedness is good and fortunately there is not a single case recorded in the entire 23 hospitals across India.”

“After March 15th, we have seen a drop in the number of new patients coming. Initially, it we are seeing 25-30 percent drop in the new patient registration. But those patients who are already coming in, fortunately, we have not seen a significant drop in the radiation patients, not a significant drop in the medical oncology. However, the follow-up patients have dropped almost 40 percent, surgical patients have dropped by about 20 percent,” he added.

Talking about Strand Life Sciences he said, “We have got approval just few days back. The validation process is going on and kits are going to be supplied from the last discussion I had with the Strand’s CEO, and in the next five days we should be ready to start testing the patients. We will not deny anyone. If somebody needs it for free we will certainly do it, it is a social call and we cannot say no to anyone. We are determined to get rid of this disease and doing more test definitely is positive."

"One of the concern globally is that we are not doing number of tests we should do to get the right number and compare ourselves with the globe. Hopefully, it will be far less than the global phenomena,” he added.

“From my understanding, easily around 15-20 PCR method we should do depending on the kits availability and as more kits come in, we can do 100s. I don’t think that we will be a problem,” he assured.

You May Also Like

FIIs pull out over Rs 1.2 lakh crore in March from Indian markets

FIIs pull out over Rs 1.2 lakh crore in March from Indian markets

COVID-19 impact: Global economy could shrink by almost 1% in 2020 due to pandemic, says UN

COVID-19 impact: Global economy could shrink by almost 1% in 2020 due to pandemic, says UN

Coronavirus outbreak: Wimbledon canceled for 1st time since World War II

Coronavirus outbreak: Wimbledon canceled for 1st time since World War II

Trending on CNBC-TV18

Live TV

recommended for you