The 16th PM will be relieved that India was recently declared polio free but the latest WHO report of global immunisation data shows just how much still needs to be done. India tops the list of the 12 countries which are home to 70 per cent of the world’s 22.6 million unimmunised children. According to data from WHO and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), 6.9 million children in India went unimmunised in 2012, and the numbers are sure to be as shocking today as well.
The healthcare leaders featured in this edition recognise the challenges and offer some very clear solutions. Awarding industry status to healthcare has been a long standing demand as has been the urge to increase fund allocation. Public private partnerships (PPPs) are the way forward but most in India have been non-starters. There are some suggestions on how transparency and trust can be increased on both sides and policy makers should try to weave these into the framework.
Diagnostics and medical devices are a key part of healthcare delivery but the grouse of major players is that until now, they have not been part of the policy making process. So too the wellness segment and with quite a few leaders asking for a shift in focus from curative to preventive healthcare, this aspect too should be a vital part of any health policy.
On the incentives and subsidies side, industry would like sops like reduction in customs duty on medical equipment as well as tax holidays for new hospitals in tier 2 and 3 cities.
Almost every leader mentions the sheer lack of quality manpower, especially paramedical staff and the brain drain to other countries. One of the long term suggestions is that we have to build an ecosystem to develop doctors by focussing not just on clinical care but research and academic work as well.
These are but a gleaning of some of the thoughts expressed in this issue’s cover story. We hope that most of these find a place in the PM’s action plan for the healthcare sector.
Though the sector has never got its due, private equity (PE) players have realised it worth. A recent report from research and consulting firm GlobalData points out that though global PE flow into healthcare decreased significantly in the last few years (from $57.7 billion in 2007 to $19.8 billion in 2013), there is growing interest in emerging markets, such as India and China. No doubt this is because of the sluggish economic revival in developed economies as well as budget cuts and healthcare reforms.
But our netas should remember that money goes where it can grow. The GlobalData report analyses that in just two years, from 2011 to 2013, the volume of healthcare PE investment in the Asia-Pacific region has increased by a massive 125.8 per cent. Most of the high value deals may be driven by the pharma segment but we’ve seen quite a few investments on the healthcare service provider side as well, such as clinics (eye care and dental chains).
PE investors seem to be going for asset-lite models with clear revenue streams. This is where the moolah is but it is but a slice of what the country needs. The Indian Government needs to create a policy framework to meet the healthcare needs of every Indian citizen. After all, it was Mahatma Gandhi who said, “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”
Viveka Roychowdhury
Editor