Government And Private Healthcare Players Should Be On The Same Platform
On the healthcare market in India
With global healthcare players looking toward India for expansion and investments, healthcare in India has a great future ahead. The Indian healthcare market is estimated to grow to USD 372 billion by 2020 and is moving toward healthcare for tomorrow. According to Frost & Sullivan, the global healthcare industry will register a stable growth and will cross the USD 1.85 trillion mark in 2018. The healthcare industry is poised to move ahead with key differentiators being the ability to provide world class quality care, and clinical outcomes at a relatively lower cost.
On budgetary allocation in healthcare
India has one of the lower GDP allocations toward healthcare. With the introduction of Ayushman Bharat, this is likely to change and can be a major milestone toward affordable healthcare for all.
On the vision for health and family welfare and challenges faced while implementing health services
Health and family welfare is the most important aspect of the healthcare sector. Our vision is to support the government and other organizations in creating awareness, training, and research.
On monitoring the quality of private healthcare
It is very important to have an independent mechanism to monitor quality in the healthcare setting. Though there is no robust framework around it yet, organizations like NABH are playing an instrumental role in setting quality standards and accreditation.
On importance of public private partnership in making healthcare a success
In a country with a 120-billion population, public private partnership (PPP) can be an important model if executed well. There are some examples of successful PPPs in healthcare across the country but it needs commitment on both sides and well-articulated roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders for successful execution.
On areas where the government should invest to make healthcare available to everyone
There has been an ongoing debate for long on the role that the government should play – either of a payor or a provider. There are different models across the world with varying success. For the benefit of the larger population and the constraints that a country like India has, the government must invest directly and significantly in primary and preventive care. The new Ayushman Bharat scheme will also help address the need for making secondary and tertiary healthcare accessible and affordable for the bottom of the pyramid.
On policies interventions that the healthcare sector in the state needs to align with the healthcare objectives at large at the national level
The need of the hour is to get private healthcare players and the government on the same platform to collectively work for addressing health needs of the entire population across the spectrum. While affordability and accessibility of basic healthcare is very important, it is equally vital to encourage innovation and cutting-edge medical treatment in the country. India has a large pool of internationally recognized talented doctors and nurses and we are poised to have global centers of clinical excellence in all fields of medicine. Policy makers should take a balanced view and address both ends of the treatment spectrum.
