Monday, July 3 2006 13:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Leading diagnostics service provider Metropolis Health Services (India) plans to make Dubai a hub for offering referral services in the Middle East.

In a joint venture with United Arab Emirates' (UAE) major conglomerate Al Ghurair Group, Metropolis is set to begin formal operations of its first laboratory in Dubai in August, though the soft launch took place last month.

"We have already set up a 5,000 sq ft laboratory at Jumeirah in Dubai and are now looking at setting up a much bigger laboratory as in Mumbai. This state-of-the-art laboratory will be a referral hub for the Middle East," said Metropolis Health Services managing director G.S.K. Velu.

"The hub will offer a range of services like genetic mapping, molecular biology and HLA (Histocompatibility Antigens) and tissue typing and other tests that are currently sent from the UAE to European countries for diagnosis and take a lot of time," Velu told sorces.

"We plan to do about 90 percent of the tests in Dubai and the remaining in Mumbai," he added.

Operating a chain of diagnostics centres - 18 laboratories and 250 sample collection centres across the country, Metropolis has several major hubs, including in Mumbai, Delhi and Noida that offer pathology, radiology and wellness services.

It is the only laboratory in Chennai accredited by the US Consulate for H1 visa screening.

With ICICI Venture having recently picked up a minority equity in the company for Rs.350 million, Metropolis is planning to invest Rs.1 billion over the next two years to expand its operations within and outside the country to raise its revenue from Rs.750 million currently to over Rs.5 billion by 2010.