A recent article in The Economist presents some very excellent examples on how emerging multinationals in Asia are reforming corporate culture and will impact global trends. (econ.st/1madjpF). A prediction which caught my attention is that as demand for health care in Asia rises, it is likely to create a whole new generation of companies. The potential for growth is huge, considering that the industry comprises only four per cent of the region’s stock market, compared with 12 per cent in the rich world, according to the article.
We are already seeing that happening and the home healthcare market is just the latest example. (See cover story: Investors call in home healthcare; pages 22-28) What seemed fairly nascent when we first covered one of the players, Portea Medical, in February this year (See interview: http://healthcare.financialexpress.com/cover-story/2434-the-target-is-to-be-in-every-city-with-a-population-of-more-than-10-lakhs) seems to have spawned several more players in just a few months. And as the cover story points out, is already attracting good investors.
If there is one threat to the home healthcare story, it’s the lack of skilled manpower. The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has projected that by 2022, the healthcare sector will have an incremental requirement of 12.7 million trained people, ranging from home health aides, diabetes educators, medical laboratory technicians and the like. The Healthcare Sector Skill Council (HSSC), a Confederation of Indian Industry initiative funded by the NSDC, has formulated courses in these areas and through affiliated training partners, has trained approximately 8000 students since it was set up in 2012.
But these numbers clearly will not keep pace with demand. The 2013 Budget speech proposed incentivising skill certification through the proposed Standard Training Assessment & Reward (STAR) scheme, so numbers might pick up but another concern is the quality of manpower. Are such courses updated frequently enough to be in tune with industry needs?
The HSSC has founder members from both government (AIIMS) and private healthcare players like Apollo, Fortis, KIMS, Manipal Hospitals, Max, and Medanta. For good measure, the pharma and medical tech sector, represented by Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Wipro-GE Healthcare are also listed as founder members as well as the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). With such a line up, it is hoped that we will have both the quantity and quality of skilled professionals in the healthcare sector.
The new Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan thus seems to have his work cut out for him. The highest number of pending bills in the Rajya Sabha (11) are from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, according to PRS Legislative Research (See: http://healthcare.financialexpress.com/latest-updates/2779-pending-bills-in-the-parliament-what-will-be-the-new-health-minister-s-next-move).
The good news is that India will have no dearth of manpower to meet the demands of fast growing sectors like healthcare. Census data (September 2013) points to the country’s demographic dividend. India’s youth bulge is now sharpest at the key 15-24 age group. Looking ahead, the country is likely to have 700 million+ people in the working age group by 2022. Creating sustainable employment for this age group need not become a problem, if the government plans for adequate skill development programmes and with the HSSC and other efforts, the impetus seems to be in the right direction. What’s needed is continuous re-evaluation of the content of these courses and mapping them to evolving industry needs.
While tweeting to thank Prime Minister Modi for reposing faith in his abilities, Dr Vardhan has promised to live up to his expectations and make health a big social movement in our country. We, at Express Healthcare, applaud his sentiment and hope that this social movement will mobilise us towards preventive healthcare as well. As the old adage goes, prevention is better (and definitely less expensive) than cure.
Viveka Roychowdhury
Editor
