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AN ET EDGE INITIATIVE The evolving dynamics of the Healthcare industry The Healthcare roundtable at the Airtel and Economic Times Global Business Summit 2016 touched upon some crucial topics, most critically how to ensure healthcare reaches the furthest reaches of India's population t was Mahatma Gandhi who said that the ef- ficacy of a policy is best measured by seeing DR ANUPAM SIBAL, how it affects the most downtrodden sections Group Medical Director, I Apollo Hospitals Group of society. Although the government has taken "Clearly, for a country our size, we several steps towards eliminating healthcare need to augment capacity. There are related issues but there are many miles to be cov- some pretty simple solutions to this. ered before the job is considered done. It is in- The average intake of an Indian deed heartening to see that the sector has re- medical school is far below the global average. This despite us ceived a sizeable allocation in the last budget, having more people and more with an increase in size to 2.5% of the GDP. The patients in hospitals." current plan is a step ahead in the journey to- wards quality healthcare for all, and the belief that this is a trend that will continue with future budgets. BHAVDEEP SINGH, India's burgeoning populace is seen in many CEO, Fortis Healthcare circles as a positive, and while that is doubtless- "I find the problem with the way we ly true, it is also essential that we make the most define partnerships today is that we continue to sit in two different rooms of our human capital by ensuring our healthcare and have two different system is in optimal condition to take care of conversations. A good partnership is them all. With India's sprawling populace spread when we become less reactive and far and wide, this is no small challenge. more proactive." Compounding the issue is the fact that spending on health care in India was an estimated five percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in A VAIDHEESH, Managing Director, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals 2013 and is expected to remain at "Somewhere down the line, there is a that level through 2016. misnomer of medicinal access being India's public health care system is not con- > From left to right: Satish Reddy (Chairman, Dr Reddy's), Bhavdeep Singh (CEO, Fortis Healthcare), A Vaidheesh (Managing Director, GlaxoSmithKline equal to reduced price. We need sistently spread, and thus last mile connectivity Pharmaceuticals), Moderator: Muralidharan Nair (Partner & National Leader, Healthcare, Ernst & Young), Dr Anupam Sibal (Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals established protocols and guidelines is always going to be a challenge. With under- Group) and Dr Sanjeev K Chaudhry (Chairman & Managing Director, SRL Diagnostics and a patient-care pathway. We need to put effort behind primary care so funded and overcrowded hospitals and clinics, that specialists are left to focus on and inadequate rural coverage, universal health- tion of financial costs for all sections of society. It only 30% of India's population. Unqualified prac- hoc manner. This becomes all the more neces- more complex cases." care remains a challenge in India. Considering is after doing so that we can turn our attention to titioners tend to the needs of Indians living in ru- sary because of the long payback periods for a that there has been a noticeable growth in age taking care of particularly vulnerable groups such ral and semi urban areas, and this is an issue that capital intensive sector such as healthcare. and lifestyle-related chronic diseases, this be- as children, women, disabled and the aged. can only be addressed by the dual pronged One means of bridging this gap between de- comes all the more alarming. India's health care However, this is easier said than done. The sta- emergence of more professionals and more hos- mand and supply is to create public-private SATISH REDDY, sector witnesses close to 50% spend on in-pa- tistics for India's health infrastructure are lagging pitals. partnerships, for it is only through a combina- Chairman, Dr Reddy's tient beds for lifestyle diseases, especially in urban behind that of other large countries that are ad- There is much hope to be had though since tion of government and corporate partnerships "It is important that community and semi-urban areas. mittedly far more developed. The U.S. has one the government earmarked the healthcare sector that we can create much-needed infrastruc- programs are designed to be A prime example of this is Diabetes, with 70 bed for every 350 patients while the ratio for as a major part of its 2014-2015 budget. In addi- ture. It is also necessary for organizations to ful- sustainable. You can't be waiting for the project to be funded by a million Indians affected by Diabetes and anoth- Japan is 1 for 85. India can only offer one bed for tion to approving a rise in the Foreign Direct ly embrace technology in order to deliver a bet- company, or to be delivered by a er 30 million in the prediabetes group, this is an every 1,050 patients, drawing a line under the Investment limit in the medical insurance busi- ter quality of service and improve the overall foundation and then taking over." issue that is just beginning to manifest itself. By need for massive investments in order to achieve ness to 49 percent, it also accorded four more quality of life. 2030, India is projected to have the largest num- the kind of last mile connectivity that enables ac- medical institutions with the status of All India The challenges are aplenty, but so are the ber of Diabetes patients in the world. This trend cess to healthcare for all. Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and broad- opportunities when it comes to Indian health- has resulted in the mushrooming of super spe- Concomitantly, there is also a need for quali- band connectivity in rural areas to enable the use care. By reimagining healthcare delivery mod- DR SANJEEV K CHAUDHRY, cialty hospitals to combat lifestyle diseases. fied medical professionals to staff the new health- of telemedicine for the remotest of the popula- els, patients are now getting closer than ever Chairman & Managing Director, This is just a glimpse of the challenge that lies care infrastructure that will doubtlessly crop up. tion. The budget also had provisions for the set- to much-needed healthcare. As the govern- SRL Diagnostics before India, for healthcare needs to cover not India's ratio of 0.7 doctors and 1.5 nurses per ting up of 15 model rural health research centers ment becomes more of a payer than provider, "For healthcare access to be successfully unlocked in this country for a large merely medical care but also preventive meas- 1,000 people is far lower than the WHO average to bridge the rural-urban divide. the neediest sections of society will find that number of people, I think the first step ures. Ironically, private out-of-pocket expenditure of 2.5 doctors and nurses per 1,000 people. This However, the absence of a central regulatory they are the beneficiaries of greater protection. is detection. "Am I well" is the question dominates the cost spectrum healthcare, yet pre- issue becomes all the more acute when you con- authority that monitors both government and pri- In time, there is a belief that the health of our that needs to be answered, and ventive care is put on the backburner. Thus, there sider the sheer scale of India's population, and vate-sector health care providers is a must along- nation's great population will be much more therefore detection, screening and diagnostics holds the key to a is a need for universal access, and access to an the fact that a majority of medical professionals side establishing health care facility standards, lest secure as a result of policy changes and sec- successful universal health program." adequate level of healthcare with a fair distribu- are to be found in urban areas, which comprises development of future facilities be done in an ad toral developments. Building up the Real Estate sector The road ahead for The potential is immense, but to be all it can, The transforming the Real Estate sector needs to be freed. Here are three key action areas for the industry. nature of Indian IT the Logistics industry he numbers tell a story of their own. Achuthan Nair (Senior Vice President & Chief There are many things that move the With an urban population equivalent Operating Officer, Wipro Infotech) talks about the Tto the total population of the United nation, but the Logistics industry does so State of America and United Kingdom, and evolving landscape of Information Technology in about 10 million people moving into cities the Indian context, as well as where it's heading above all. Shashi Kiran Shetty (Founder and annually, the Indian Real Estate sector is ex- hibiting the kind of robust growth that catch- ith its long legacy and forward cess affordability and acceptability to Chairman, Allcargo Logistics) speaks about es the eye. This, coupled with a housing Permission Requested looking strategy, Wipro technology for individuals and busi- the prospects of this bulwark sector shortage of 18.8 million, means it doesn't Call it red-tape, hurdles or whatever you WInfotech is among the leader in nesses alike, especially MSME. take a genius to understand the innate po- will, but permissions and approvals are a the managed IT Services industry in Access means the ability of citizens tential of the sector.

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