Exhibiting renewed confidence, the Indian healthcare sector is poised to break growth barriers in 2017 given a favourable policy environment and challenges that only seem to further strengthen the industrys resolve to enhance quality to become competitive globally. Elets News Network (ENN) takes a look at how 2016 shaped up for the Indian healthcare sector and how some of the newsmakers in the industry pushed the quality of healthcare delivery in the country to the next level.

The bygone year was an action-packed year for the Indian Healthcare industry. Exhibiting strong confidence in their capabilities to scale new heights, several Indian healthcare companies in pharmaceutical, diagnostics businesses, multispecialty hospital chains, an oncology chain, successfully rode the primary market wave by launching their initial public offerings (IPOs).

The acquisition and merger scenario, too, saw a lot of action happening with Chinas Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co striking a $1.4-billion deal with Gland Pharma Limited to acquire 86 per cent stake in the Hyderabad- based company.

The high growth potential of healthcare delivery companies generated a high level of interest among private equity firms, as several Indian pharma majors closed strategic deals in domestic as well as overseas market.

The single-specialty sector including hospital chains in eye care, mother and child care, dental care and oncology segments attracted good investments, even as multispecialty hospital chains like Hyderabad-based CARE Hospitals raised funds to further their expansion plans to improve healthcare delivery across the country.

The end of regulatory uncertainty with regard to in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) also significantly improved investment environment with PE investments beginning to flow into the promising segment.

The Indian healthcare tech startups continued to show traction with 73 deals worth over $113 million struck, highlighting the future potential of disruptive thinking in healthcare delivery.

Despite facing opposition, online pharmacies, too, attracted significant investments as the government initiated the process of setting clear regulatory guidelines to regulate them.

Besides taking cognizance of the big-ticket investments “ both inbound and outbound — and fund raising happening throughout the year, we contacted several captains of the Indian healthcare sector to know what they were able to achieve in 2016. Here is what they shared with us.

Dr Jintendar Kumar Sharma, Director & CEO of the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ) Limited and Advisor (Health), Government of Andhra Pradesh KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Rationalisation of specifications to ensure competitive bidding in healthcare technology division Initiating equipment maintenance programme in public private partnerships for effective upkeep Starting medical devices adverse events reporting system in the country Department of Healthcare Technology at NHSRC recognised as the WHO collaborating centre for medical devices making in the entire South-East Asia Driving growth of Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), Indias first medical device manufacturing zone spread over 270 acres in Visakhapatnam

Dr Mayank Somani, CEO, Medics Super Speciality Hospital KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Driving the upcoming state-of-the-art 300-bed super speciality tertiary care hospital, the first in Lucknow and whole central and eastern UP Tied up with doctors, pharmaceutical companies and bigger NGOs to ensure inclusive quality healthcare is provided to all irrespective of their social status Guiding development of a strong IT infrastructure and the best technology in the healthcare space to make healthcare delivery and work flow seamlessly

Dr Nand Kumar Jairam, CMD, Columbia Asia Hospitals KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Expanding super speciality services like Liver Transplantation, Bone Marrow Transplantation, Deep Brain Stimulation, High-end Urology, High-end Neurosurgical procedures, etc. Establishing centres of excellence (CoE) around specialties like kidney transplant, gastric and liver diseases and orthopedics Standardising clinical terminologies through the adoption of SNOMED CT for all the procedures and also the adoption of ICD 10 for diagnoses Successfully running 100-bed hospitals in Tier-II towns like Patiala, Mysore and Ghaziabad. Plans to commission 206-bed hospital in Sarjapur, Bangalore during the fourth quarter of the 2017. Plans are also afoot to expand in the Pune area as well

Dr Shankar Narang, Chief Operating Offi cer, Paras Healthcare KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Positioning Paras Healthcare as a community player with stress on accessibility, affordability and quality Providing specialties based on regional needs. Driving the hospital chains expansion strategy that has been broken into two phases — Phase 1 is from 2015 to 2020 and Phase 2 from 2021 to 2028. Expansion will primarily be in Tier 2 cities of North India.

Dr Sajan Nair, Group COO, Zydus Hospitals & Healthcare Research Pvt Ltd KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: cGreen OT, NABH and NABL accreditions in 18 months of operations Coming up with full-fledged radiation centre and oncology unit with latest technology in partnership with reputed oncology institute of US/Europe Plans to set up seven hospitals — five in major cities of Gujarat, one each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Plans to tie up with like-minded hospitals in tier-II and III cities across India and in Africa uted 214 community-based educational programmes as part of its CSR initiative Robust medical tourism programme for foreigners and NRIs

Neha Rastogi, Co-founder of Agatsa KEY ACHIEVEMENTS: Launching disruptive tech-driven devices to make cardiac care simple and cost-effective Launching Sanket, a credit card sized ECG monitoring device, which measures 12-lead ECGs without any leads or wires or electrodes Plans to launch a complete range of end-to-end solutions for cardiac care by bringing together cardiac healthcare providers, dieticians and physical therapists Gearing up to Beta launch of cardiac health platform called Sanket Coach Programme.

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