A serial entrepreneur, Dr GSK Velu saw the need of making India a self-sufficient country capable of making healthcare accessible and affordable by either partnering with world class medical technology companies or by investing on his own in infrastructural manufacturing capacities. It would have been risky to decide on one course of action, so he decided to take a route which was less travelled but more challenging and with his own personal funding he conceptualised Trivitron in 1997 with a vision of providing healthcare to people by making healthcare equipment and services more accessible and affordable. This was late 90s, when India was heavily dependent on imports for medical equipment due to which the healthcare sector was extremely fragile. The lack of sophisticated equipment at affordable cost made it difficult to conduct certain diagnostic tests within the country for the majority of people. Trivitron with focus on bridging the gap between patient and treatment, started partnering with world class medical technology companies to bring the best of services and technologies in the country and also parallel started investing in its own manufacturing and R&D infrastructure. For a BITS Pilani alumni, his dream of self-sufficient Indian Healthcare Industry was more luring then the jobs he was offered with huge pay packets.
Serial Healthcare Entrepreneur Driven By Vision Of Providing Affordable, Accessible & Quality Healthcare
Over last three decades Dr GSK Velu has been true to his vision to make world class healthcare services and technologies affordable and accessible to developed, developing and underdeveloped sections of the society through organic and inorganic business models.
As of today, Trivitron’s Medical Technology Park located in Abhiramapuram, Chennai is South Asia’s first state-of- the-art medical technology manufacturing facility. Apart from manufacturing, Trivitron strategically joined hands with many international universities for a broad scientific cooperation, and to raise the bars in the Research & Development for new technology developments. With 13 USFDA, CE certified manufacturing facilities located across different parts of the globe, supported by several R&D tie-ups with global leaders, Trivitron holds the record of 55,000+ installations across the globe. The company spearheads innovation in the fields of Newborn Screening, In-Vitro Diagnostics, Imaging & Radiology, Radiation Protection, Critical Care and Operating Room Solutions, thus, engraving its name as a holistic healthcare provider. Distributing medical technology products to 180+ countries, Trivitron products cater to hospitals, individual healthcare providers, independent clinics and laboratories, extended care facilities, renal care centres and all other roofs providing healthcare solutions. The Manufacturing and R&D setups in India, Europe, US and China has played a crucial role during the past 18 months of COVID-19 pandemic by supplying products like Ventilators, Covid RT PCR, RNA Extraction, VTM, Covid Antigen, Antibody etc testing kits across globe.
Named as the “parallel entrepreneur” by Forbes, Dr Velu’s pursuits have been backed by high educational qualifications including a doctorate and a MBA in finance. For over three decades Dr Velu has been working to fulfil his vision to promote world class healthcare facilities either through his efforts and investment or in collaboration with other reputed organizations in the health sector both in India and Internationally. A fighter in true sense, Dr Velu has been persistent in pursuing his dreams by converting every failure into a stepping stone to success. He has been persistent in his efforts to keep abreast of new cutting edge technologies to fulfil his vision of providing quality but affordable healthcare facilities. After making a mark in the manufacturing of healthcare technology products, Dr Velu has embarked on a mission to make India a leading hub in medical technology and healthcare. For this he plans to leverage his many business initiatives to help India emerge as a leading destination for advanced healthcare. Over the years, Trivitron has emerged as one of the largest healthcare organizations in the country dealing in hospital and pathology equipment, reagents, kits and technologies.
Till early 2000s, Dr Velu was engaged as the managing director for Trivitron and Metropolis Healthcare, a chain of pathology labs across India. After establishing a firm hold in the B2B segment and his exit from Metropolis in 2015, Dr Velu ventured into the B2C segment in 2017 with Neuberg Diagnostics, which is an alliance of top labs across India, UAE, South Africa & USA bringing the latest technology and techniques within the reach of common man. The combined strength of the Neuberg alliance offers over 5000 varieties of Pathological investigations aimed to promote Prevention & Early Diagnosis, Focused Wellness Programs and Structured disease management programs for rare diseases using the most advanced technologies and best-in-class human resources, assisted by data science and AI tools.
Through collaboration with existing and reputable players in the field, Dr Velu has extended his domain in healthcare to include ophthalmology, dentistry and dialysis. Maxivision Super Speciality Eye Hospital is globally renowned eye hospital and has been rendering the gift of perfect vision to over 2.5 million patients in India and the UK for over three decades. The company is now on course to extend its network of super specialty services across the country. Apollo Dental and Apollo Dialysis Clinics are joint ventures between India’s leading healthcare groups Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd and Trivitron Healthcare. The alliance operates a chain of 80 plus dental clinics equipped with unique 7 star dental spas, studios, clinics and express centres and over 100 dialysis centres across the country. Along with offering Premium services and Avant Grade Cosmetic Dentistry, Dr Velu has ensured that the fast expanding chain also offers simple and affordable dental services.
Dr Velu has also invested in multi-specialty hospital chain with patient care and safety as a key focus. Kauvery Hospital is a leading, multi-specialty hospital chain offering best-in-class medical services for nearly 2 decades. “With paramount focus on patient care, patient safety and patient satisfaction, we are committed to offer exemplary medical services going beyond the norm of healthcare,” says Dr Velu, Mentor, Director & Shareholder, Kauvery Group of Hospitals. The chain of multi-specialty hospitals has presence in 6 cities. It operates 9 hospitals with combined facilities of 1500 plus beds. Kauvery Hospitals cater to the super specialty healthcare needs of middle class and lower middle class population across Tamil Nadu including Tier 2 & 3 towns, in keeping with Dr Velu’s belief in empathy, human care, medical expertise and social consciousness.
Each of Dr Velu’s ventures is setting high standards in the healthcare industry within the country. These specialized facilities have made it possible for the tens of thousands of people across the globe to have cost effective access to medical technology, diagnostic services, eye care, dental care, super specialty hospital care and dialysis centres.
As per his own words, “This is just the beginning of new era in Indian Healthcare Industry, we have the greatest minds with us and sky is the limit.”