India is one of the world’s largest democracies and the way it makes a mark on the global map being a powerful and emerging economy, it gives positive insight about the future prospect of the country.

Healthcare, being India’s one of the largest sectors both in terms of revenue and employment, has witnessed huge transformation in the last decade.

Latest technology and innovative digital tools have led the Indian healthcare delivery system to get evolved in terms of providing enriched healthcare experience to masses especially on front of clinical outcome. With the Government undertaking many measures to bolster patient care and private players playing equally pivotal role, the sector is making giant leap to enable people at large to avail accessible and affordable healthcare.

The healthcare sector is projected to become 8.6 trillion by 2022. The unprecedented growth of the healthcare sector is due to a range of factors including spike in non- communicable diseases, a considerable increase in income of the middle class, more awareness, quest for quality care, and easy access to service providers.

Healthcare ecosystem comprise of hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing health insurance, medical tourism and medical equipments. We have well trained medical professionals that are cost competitive as compared to Asian and Western countries.

The healthcare sector is expected to grow manifold by the next five years. Due to the increased awareness of the consumers about the quality of healthcare, the expectation of the consumers is skyrocketing and they are demanding top class care. There is significant growth in the healthcare system due to increased investment in the health sector.

The government also seems to be determined to provide quality health for all. With this objective, the spending is set to be increased to 2.5% of the gross domestic product by 2025.

Also, with the insurance sector growing, the population is expected to spend through insurance rather than out of their own pockets.

Even though the healthcare sector is growing, there is low accessibility and affordability for most of the population as the insurance coverage is less plus the costs of healthcare are also rising.

Some of the biggest factors for limiting healthcare accessibility include–

1. We have 7 beds for 10,000 population whereas globally it is 26 beds.

2. There are more medical professionals in the urban area than in the rural areas/villages where a large strata of our population lives with low accessibility to healthcare.

3. The insurance coverage is also very low as compared to other countries leading to increase in out-of-pocket expenditure taking toll on the patients.

4. There is a shift in disease pattern from communicable to non- communicable diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disorders. The cardiovascular diseases are the highest known cause of the death especially in the younger age group in India.

The way technology is making impact, the time has come when just doctor-patient engagement is not enough. With continuous technological growth, the healthcare industry is going to be more based on “Value based care “ outcomes in coming days.

New trends as per Vision2024 would be–

1. Healthcare will go mobile.
2. New strategies to deliver low cost healthcare will be on the rise.
3. New drug pricing models will be unveiled.
4. Behavioral healthcare will see more acceptance.

The writer is Dr Aditi Karad, Executive Director, VishwaRaj Hospital.

Like

Dislike

Be a part of Elets Collaborative Initiatives. Join Us for Upcoming Events and explore business opportunities. Like us on Facebook , connect with us on LinkedIn and follow us on Twitter , Instagram.