Each year 2-4% Indians pushed BPL because of healthcare burden

Managing Director of Medanta, Dr Naresh Trehan highlighted that the introduction of Ayushman Bharat scheme has been a mammoth relief for more than 5 crore beneficiaries. He stressed on the need to create innovative models for the “forgotten middle” in order to cover every nook and cranny of the healthcare system.

Trehan shed light on how each year 2-4% of Indians above the poverty line were pushed below poverty line because of the burden of healthcare.

Praising the government, Trehan stated, “We are growing at 25 million people a year. That means one Australia added to our economy or population. So, the challenge is huge and I think that the steps taken by the current government in introducing the Ayushman scheme has been a huge relief.”

Trehan added that India needs to find a path to provide health security to every citizen. Apart from 50 crore Ayushman beneficiaries, a large number of people who are a part of the government system or security system are provided health security through schemes like Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) or Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).

He added that some state governments also provide insurance covering basic healthcare for its citizens. Also, the penetration of private insurance has also increased from 3% to sub-20% in the last 10 years.

Stressing on the improvement in the Indian healthcare system, Trehan said, “People used to travel from India to New York for me to operate on them and now people are traveling from all over the world to India to be operated on. So there is a huge upside for us as far as healthcare is concerned.”

Additionally, Medanta Group’s MD also emphasised the monopoly of a few companies in the production of high-end diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. However, Trehan reckons that India possesses the capability to become self-sufficient in production of these high-end machines.

He said, “For instance, I buy a radiation machine for ₹35 crore and you tell me seven years later, the (machine’s) end of life is approaching and we cannot service it anymore. It means that you are actually captive to those people. Now, that’s the highest end, when will we get there from India to that level, we do have the capability eventually to work towards that.”

He stressed that healthcare may seem expensive, however, the inputs required to deliver different levels of medicine cannot be negated. CNBCTV18