The Indian healthcare industry is poised to address domestic and global requirements

• The healthcare sector has a huge role to play towards India’s target of becoming a $5-trillion economy.

• The inadequacy of hospital infrastructure is a major hurdle in addressing healthcare demand in India.

• Reverse auctioning land, more efficient protocols for the construction of hospitals, promoting medical tourism and global collaborations are some measures that can be adopted to further the industry in India.

I have no doubt that as India strives to become a $5-trillion economy, the healthcare sector along with its multiplier effect on other industries has a significant role to play in India’s growth story in this decade.  Prosperity and economic development of a nation are highly correlated with the well-being of its populace. Hence, provision of accessible healthcare is not a consequence but a pre-requisite for economic growth.

The hospital industry in India has the potential to not only address the burgeoning requirement of healthcare delivery to the vast under-served population of India but can also be a great employment generator.

The government has launched the ambitious $1.5 billion per annum health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat to serve the unaffordability in our country. Moreover, ageing population and high cost of healthcare are a huge strain on treasuries of developed countries and self-paying individuals in others that are unable to sponsor healthcare of their citizens. Indian healthcare tertiary care services are priced at less than 4 per cent of the cost incurred in the US; waiting time and costs in European countries for elective surgeries are immense, most smaller but affluent nations do not have sizeable populations to enable development of tertiary care programs and most developing nations neither have the clinical talent nor the infrastructure to address their requirements.

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