Indian healthcare industry to reach Rs 3.08L crore by 2030

Healthcare has been in momentum and how. NITI Aayog data suggests India’s healthcare industry, which includes hospitals, medical equipment, insurance and telemedicine, has witnessed a compound annual growth rate of around 22 per cent since 2016. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group and B Capital, the Indian healthcare industry is estimated to grow in value to $37 billion (Rs 3.08 lakh crore) by 2030. This growth could be both due to the spotlight the pandemic shone on healthcare and the growing burden of diseases.

India has one of the highest rates of cancers, cardio diseases, diabetes and TB in the world. How can modern medicine keep pace with modern diseases and what are the major trends to look out for in the coming year? Dr Randeep Guleria, former director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, explains what Indian healthcare needs to focus on in 2024.

AI: Artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely going to have a huge impact in the years to come. It is going to be particularly useful in predicting and preventing illnesses. For example, AI in medical imaging can now save hours of work by digitally spotting abnormalities and alerting accordingly. Similarly, AI helps monitor vitals of people at home and, in case of an issue, flags it to both the user and the doctor. However, it would be wrong to say that doctors and manpower are not needed. The empathy and experience of a human is still critical in healthcare. So, we need to balance man and machine effectively.

AMR management: Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is a silent epidemic in our country. It is extremely worrisome globally because if we continue at this pace, the world could run out of antibiotics entirely. It is important that we focus on awareness about responsible use of antibiotics. People must finish their entire course of the medicine and never self-medicate with these drugs. If an antibiotic is not taken properly, it leads to AMR.

Lifestyle diseases: We are seeing a rapid increase in lifestyle diseases. This is largely because of our diet and mobility. People still consume extremely calorific and sugary foods, and their routines are fairly sedentary. We need a planned strategy to spread awareness on healthy practices and invest strongly in reducing our burden of these diseases.

Pandemic preparedness: India learnt many lessons during the Covid-19 pandemic. Our infrastructure has improved significantly—we have medical oxygen plants, protocols for pandemics and vaccination strategies. But we must not lose pace because there has been a rise in zoonotic diseases in the past few decades and there is no guarantee another will not erupt. Knowing what pathogen is in our population is also the key to predicting and managing any future events of the same nature.

Adult vaccination: I have been advocating adult vaccines strongly, especially for flu and pneumonia after a certain age. However, the demand has not been very much because people still aren’t convinced that vaccines are needed post childhood. We also have various other vaccines being developed, including one for herpes zoster, cervical cancer and malaria. There needs to be more awareness on the importance of adult vaccines. Accessibility to these vaccines should also be improved. India Today