Testing times for diagnostics giants

Amazon's healthcare push has the potential to shake up a ₹1-lakh-crore category

- Geetika Srivastava

The challenge for every healthcare provider is the same — to strike a balance between the care needs of patients and expectations of regulators with the job to maintain a healthy financial score.

It's a tightrope walk, but Amazon is not known to get many things wrong.

Last week, it announced the launch of Amazon Diagnostics, an at-home healthcare service that allows customers to schedule lab tests and receive reports online via the Amazon app.

Think of it as a fully integrated outpatient care experience on Amazon. While partner Orange Health handles the diagnostic operations — from assigning their phlebotomists to running the labs and pricing the tests — Amazon provides the digital platform with access to a large number of users. "Customers can seamlessly consult doctors through Amazon Clinic, schedule diagnostic tests with Amazon Diagnostics, and order the prescribed medicines via Amazon Pharmacy," says Jayaramakrishnan Balasubramanian, category head, Amazon Medical, India.

Available at the moment in six cities (Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, and Hyderabad), the service covers more than 450 PIN codes and offers access to over 800 diagnostic tests.