Name of the game: Collaboration, partnerships and more
Speaking to an august gathering of top CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and private healthcare leaders, Moopen informed that public-private spend now is at 30:70 ratio. The government needs to increase healthcare spend to 17 per cent.
“The reality of Indian healthcare is that we have a very low supply side strength right from our GDP spend, doctors per patient and bed per patient ratio. Both the central and state governments should join hands with the private healthcare while initiating any big healthcare scheme. The recent budget allocation has been fairly good as compared to earlier times,” he said.
Mentioning about Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) scheme, Moopen said, “For the successful implementation of the scheme, it needs to be supported by the private healthcare fraternity. The government should also provide viable fund gaps. The scheme has allocated Rs 6,400 crore, which is a minimal amount because the total healthcare spend of our country is Rs 64,000 crore. If we have to cover 10 crore families for Rs 5 lakh for a year, there should be a premium of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000. So, we need Rs 100 crore to run the scheme every year, which needs huge funding. Also, if we need to take the scheme to tier II and III cities, we should have tripartite agreement with the corporate hospitals as they can provide the infrastructure facility and medical equipment companies can provide their latest technologies.”
Informing that accessibility, affordability and quality are the three pillars of a successful healthcare system, he stressed that innovative ways of structuring with an open mind will lead the road to success. “The future of healthcare in India needs to focus on preventive medicine. There is a huge demand-supply gap of healthcare professionals that needs to be met,” he highlighted.
Drawing an example of Kerala Primary Healthcare (PHC) model, he informed that investment on healthcare education and tech- empowerment in rural areas is necessary. Appreciating the central government’s plan to set up 1.5 lakh Health and Wellness Centres by 2022, he said,“The existing Rural Health Clinics (RHCs) and PHCs should be run by the locals instead of government and they should be converted into public-private partnership (PPP) models. The only way good healthcare can be provided is by leapfrogging towards technological upgradation.”