Occasion of World Diabetes Day, an interview with Mr.Ashok Jain, founder of Lifespan Clinic

 
Mumbai November 14, 2013:  What’s unique about the concept of Lifespan Clinics?

Ans:

Lifespan Clinic offers India’s first Comprehensive Diabetes Management Programme. We bring in a whole new level of organized support and care through the use of state-of-the-art medicare for the treatment and management of diabetes.

Eighteen years of struggles and discoveries have inspired me to have the vision of Lifespan Clinics – a chain to help and support people affected by diabetes. And, also prediabetics, of whom there are a huge number in this country.

Why a special clinic only for Diabetics and Pre-diabetics?

Ans:

India is emerging as the diabetes capital of the world. Statistics are that we are nearing 10 Crore diabetics and 20 Crore pre-diabetics. Though the number of diabetics is increasing, we saw the limitations in the treatment options available to a diabetic. In order to address this need, we decided to start a chain of Lifespan Clinics that could offer comprehensive treatment and provide a unified solution with expertise, diagnosis and guidance under one roof for pre-diabetes and diabetes care.

How come such a large number of diabetics and cases of prediabetes are said to go undetected? Is this a risk?

Ans: This is because of the nature of diabetes, it shows no tell-tale or attention-getting symptoms and that’s the reason it has been termed a `silent killer’. It has caused organ damage and affected important systems in your body even by the time you are declared diabetic. People think it is bothersome to go for blood tests with fasting, but there is hope that with easier and simpler methods such as our Lifespan Clinic’s R.I.S.C test, many more of them will be screened early.

If a person has excess body weight, comes from a family where any of the parents or siblings are diabetic, or have hypertension, have a highly sedentary occupation as well as personal life – it would be foolhardy to not get tested for diabetes. If they are identified early to be diabetic, this will save them from the severe complications associated with diabetes.

How do you differentiate Lifespan Clinics from other clinics or a specialty hospital where a Diabetic could get treated?

Ans:

At a stand-alone healthcare clinic, the expertise is scattered and no two consultations are the same. Time also is a constraint.

Lifespan Clinics offers a unique approach to treating diabetes. We prepare an individualised management plan that takes into consideration the patient’s lifestyle, dietary habits, nature of work, family work, personal medical history and current fitness.

We give patients a unified solution with expertise, diagnosis and guidance under one roof.

The unique R.I.S.C. test is something we have pioneered in India. It is a comprehensive, non-invasive and painless 7 min. procedure that measures 30 health parameters.

At Lifespan, our diabetes specialists provide their undivided attention for a guaranteed 30 minute consultation; hence there is no time constraint.

Further, there’s uniformity of treatment standards across all clinics that are designed to maximize convenience, therapy effectiveness and continuity of care and support.

How do your patients benefit from Lifespan Clinics?

Ans:

Since Lifespan Clinics provides a unified solution with expertise, diagnosis and guidance under one roof, patients need not look further.

The best part of Lifespan Clinics is the support that patients get all the time to adopt a healthier lifestyle, because as we like to tell them, the person who can help them win over diabetes is themselves.

How do you see Lifespan Clinics placed 5 years down the line? What are your future plans?

Ans:

We are expanding on this concept of Comprehensive Diabetes Treatment Centres and extending the chain to all major cities across India. We have set ourselves a target of 1000 Lifespan Clinics across 20 major cities in India.

Please explain your model of business for your franchisee?

As a franchisee, you would need to have approx 1000 sq. feet in an easily accessible location in the city or the suburbs. You should have the capacity to arrange for doctors and dieticians, and be able to invest Rs.15-30 lacs. Lifespan will only collect 20% of collections as Franchise Fee.

We provide our franchises with the Lifespan R.I.S.C Test machine.

What would be the advantages for your franchisees of being associated with Lifespan India?

Ans:

Good work always gives returns. As Diabetes is a major challenge & there are a huge number of diabetics, we expect a decent return on investment.

We also provide media support, branding, call center support, software, back end support, field support, training, website, electronic medical records and other needed support.

We build better brand value by advertising through Times of India which has a readership of over 76 lac. as per Indian Readership Survey (2012). CCI Newswire