Vice President inaugurates India’s first integrated diagnostics facility by Mahajan Imaging

New Delhi: With a view to be future ready, Mahajan Imaging, India´s leading chain of high-end medical imaging, has forayed into precision and personalised medicine by launching an integrated centre of excellence in diagnostics at Safdarjung Development Area, New Delhi.

The new centre combines state-of-the-art technology in medical imaging with a full-fledged pathology and genomics lab as well as an R&D department and an AI startup.

Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu delivered the inaugural address at the launch of the new centre. He emphasised the need for early diagnosis through screening programmes and preventive health checks at the population level. He further remarked on the role of Public-Private Partnership and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence in providing access to high-quality, affordable diagnostics across the country.

Naidu added: “Making world-class health infrastructure accessible to people is the need of the hour. The launch of this integrated centre of excellence is a revolutionary step. Such high-standard diagnostics will enable doctors to diagnose health disorders much more accurately and make safer interventions. India is marching forward in many areas, and adoption of technology for the betterment of life of the people is crucial. Such a diagnostic center will aid this transformation. Private sector adding such advanced facility to healthcare infrastructure of the country is really praiseworthy.”

Mahajan Imaging, which currently has 10 high-end medical diagnostic centres in Delhi-NCR and Jaipur, has ventured into a new field called ‘Integrated Diagnostics.’

Dr. Harsh Mahajan, a Padma Shri awardee and Founder & Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging, stressed on the role of combining medical imaging, lab medicine and genomics.

He said: “The future of medicine lies in early diagnosis and targeted treatments – the concept of Personalized Medicine. Through genomics, we will be able to predict genetic probability of various diseases such as cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative disorders. The use of advanced lab medicine will help determine the present biological status of multiple tissues and body parts. And through imaging, both structural and functional, we will be able to diagnose serious diseases early, all under one roof.”

The new centre, spread across five floors, is designed with aesthetics for maximum patient comfort and equipped with state-of-the-art technologies including radiology and nuclear medicine. It consists of three MRI scanners, Dual Energy Spectral CT, Digital PET CT, Dual Head Gamma Camera, radionuclide therapy with Lutetium, Full Field Digital Mammography with 3DTomosynthesis, 3D / 4D Ultrasounds, Cone Beam Dental CT, DEXA bone densitometry, non-invasive cardiac lab, digital fluoroscopy, and radiography.

Mahajan Imaging has also set up a full-fledged pathology lab with cyto and histopathology and molecular diagnostics along with a Genomics lab with Next Generation Sequencers. This is the only private laboratory in North India to be accredited for genome sequencing of Covid-19 samples.

Experts from the field of preventive health and predictive medicine have said that the new field of “Integrated Diagnostics,” supported by AI at the backend, would put India at the forefront of the emerging science of predictive and precision medicine.

Explained Dr. Mahajan: “Correlating imaging, lab medicine and genomics with clinical outcomes will lead to development of predictive AI models which offer increased operational efficiency and benefits to patients through quicker, more accurate and affordable diagnoses.” Experts also point out that precision medicine will revolutionize treatment and lead to targeted therapies with fewer side effects and optimal clinical outcomes.

Mahajan Imaging will also do interventional procedures and preventive health checks. It plans to start teaching, training, and up-skilling radiologists and technologists with fellowship courses. Using its AI and translational research capabilities, the company has already helped global companies develop and launch several products for medical imaging.