India should scale up point of care medical devices manufacturing

Healthcare market will see a boom in short period of time. Many of the overseas patients may like to come to India for their treatment because of quick and quality care. No waiting period, economical, above all comfort and confidence in the Indian doctor has played a major role in boosting health tourism. It may not be an exaggeration to say the entire world is looking toward India as destination for healthcare needs.

On budgetary allocation in healthcare
India spent little over 1.3 percent of GDP on healthcare, this is very minuscule. India should at least allocate 3-4 percent of GDP for healthcare. It will push our GDP, because of increased productivity due to more healthy people and less man hours lost due to illnesses.

On planned budgetary allocation for the fiscal year 2020-21
We are planning 10-12 percent of budgetary allocation to be used for purchase of medical equipment and point of care devices, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more and more point of care devices will be used for quick assessment and minimize manpower needs in healthcare.

On vision for Health and Family Welfare
This year’s pandemic has exposed the weakness of our primary healthcare delivery; strong primary healthcare system is the cornerstone for a healthy nation.

I strongly feel we need robust primary care institutions, so as to prevent or minimize occurrence of illnesses. Unfortunately 80 percent of our best hospitals are located in metro cities rendering less than 20 percent of the population.

On monitoring the quality of private healthcare
70 percent of Indian people’s medical expenses are met by out of pocket expenses, more so for rural and poor people. Quality care comes at a cost. Hence, the way forward for quality care is universal health insurance for all, not only BPL card holders. On a lighter vein, he is a BPL cardholder where he goes to the hospital, when he comes out of the hospital he becomes a BPL cardholder, because the treatment cost is so high.

On public private partnership
Kerala is a classical example for complying with government healthcare; today Kerala has the best healthcare index in the country.

PPP model in healthcare is not only a quick fix for quality healthcare, rather will continue to be the best model for India on a long-term too.

On areas where government should invest to make healthcare available to everyone
With limited budgetary allocation, government should spend more on primary and preventive care rather than secondary or tertiary care and never in quaternary care.

This will help cater medical care to large population with limited budgets.

On healthcare policies
Best model is to make healthcare a central subject rather than a state subject. Revamp the dual system of healthcare. Unify and allot a district to each medical college. They have to provide comprehensive medical cares to designated district. Center can provide financial incentives to complement their spending. Center is contemplating medical colleges in every district. We have nearly 600 medical colleges as of now, with addition of few more medical colleges, each district can have a designated medical college.

This will change the entire healthcare scenario in India.

India should scale up point of care medical devices manufacturing. This will help to provide quality care at affordable rate in remotest possible place at a fraction of cost.