In a bid to take digital pathology ahead, Neuberg Diagnostics has joined hands with U.S.-based OptraSCAN to offer advanced digital pathology solutions to hospitals in India, UAE and South Africa.
The joint venture, ‘Neuberg DIGIPATH, Powered by OptraSCAN’, will be rolled out in three months. Under this, services related to digitisation of tissue slides and telepathology will be offered for hospitals and general physicians, G.S.K. Velu, founder and chairman, Neuberg Diagnostics, told reporters on Tuesday.
“Digital pathology is very primitive in India due to the high cost of scanners. A scanner from U.S. or Europe cost at least ₹2 crore. We are forming a new venture by aligning with OptraSCAN, a digital pathology solutions provider, to make digital pathology accessible and affordable to all,” he said.
Any hospital in India, UAE and South Africa can send tissue slides for scanners that would be placed at Neuberg Diagnostics centres. “We will digitise the slides and give it back to the pathologists. We can even archive and store it for them,” he said.
Manufactured in Pune
Neuberg Diagnostics has 60 laboratories in the three countries, he said, adding, “These scanners are being manufactured in Pune under “Make in India”. The cost of service is going to be cheap and 200 histopathologists will be listed on our website that will be operational in four months. We are creating a telepath portal in which the digital slides will be put in so that multiple pathologists can give their opinion.”
Extension to villages
Histopathology is integral to cancer management through the staging and grading of tumours. N. Jayaram, head, Histopathology and Cytology Services, Neuberg Diagnostics Network, said they would be able to extend their services to districts and villages and provide basic tissue processing technologies.
Anagha Jadhav, director of Digital Pathology, OptraSCAN.Inc, said this would provide advanced technology and computer-aided diagnostics to assist pathologists. This would create whole slide images instead of static images.
