The health care sector of India is booming, which is the most popular comment heard about the sector. There are many opportunities for investors, innovators and also health care recipients. Health industry is growing by leaps and bounds. It has even become $160 billion worth as a sector part of the Indian economy and it is expected to double essentially in the next 5 years.
The healthcare industry has become one of the most rewarding industries in terms of profits. 99% of India’s healthcare is privatized. That is because the government has been unable to provide sanitary healthcare for the entire country. It has been lacking equality ever since we attained independence which is the main important reason why privatized healthcare is so expensive today and became one of the most leading industries when it comes to making profits.
Recently it has become very difficult to access health care these days. Which has been a typical reason why people have been struggling to ensure that the government is able to provide to them proper healthcare. People from the rural areas have to access a government hospital for treating basic ailments like BP, diabetes and so on.
India has been painting a picture where its healthcare industry is booming. Though that is true because India has maintained its privatized healthcare industry in such a way that it is competent and it has all the necessary or technological improvements and has made sure that the peoples life expectancy has increased from 60 to 70.
The medical tourism has also been generating a lot of income up to 3.6 billion people travel to India to get treated and that seems like a very startling number. There are many hospitals in India accredited by authorities like NABH and JCI to treat foreign nationals under medical tourism.
Pharmaceutical Industry in India
This industry in India is the world’s third largest in terms of volume. According to the department of pharmaceuticals, the total turnover of India’s pharmaceutical industry between 2008 and 2009 was $21.04 billion. India is one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world and has established itself as a global manufacturing and research hub. A large raw material based and the availability of a skilled workforce gives the industry a definite competitive advantage.
India today is one of the top emerging markets in the global pharmaceutical sector. The health industry is highly knowledge based and its steady growth is positively affecting the Indian economy. The organized nature of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is attracting several companies that are finding it viable to increase their operations in the country in 2013there were 4655 pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in all of India employing over 3,45,000 people. The Indian pharma industry is a good growth path.
COVID-19 Contributions by Healthcare Industries
The best defence against any outbreak in the world is a strong healthcare system. The covid19 pandemic has caused a strain on the healthcare system of all the countries across the world. The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health care workers threatens to leave the health systems overstretched and unable to operate effectively. Since healthcare infrastructure such as hospital beds and availability of doctors and paramedical professionals is a requirement for providing quality healthcare facilities, it is believed that states scoring high on this account are likely to score high in their fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as well. Nevertheless, it was realized that the battle with the Covid-19 required more than just the infrastructure. The availability of hospital beds/doctors is essential to take care of the Covid-19 case load, but to detect and prevent the spread of Covid-19, mass scale testing and tracing is required, which is not possible without active, elaborate and sustained administrative support and additional healthcare expenditure undertaken by state governments.
India has also contributed with the vaccine. Covaxin, India’s local covid-19 neutralizer by Bharat Biotech is made as a group with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV). The local, inactivated vaccine is made and delivered in Bharat Biotech’s BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) high control environment.
Upcoming Boom in Healthcare
The industry is growing at an enormous rate owing to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well as private players.
Growing frequency of lifestyle diseases, increasing demand for affordable healthcare delivery systems due to the increasing healthcare costs, technological advancements, the emergence of telemedicine, rapid health insurance penetration and government initiatives like e-health benefits and incentives are driving the healthcare market in India.
By 2022, the diagnostics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20.4% to reach $32 billion from $5 billion in 2012
Over the next 10 years, National Digital Health Blueprint can unlock incremental economic value of over $200 billion for the health sector.
Foreign Investment in Healthcare
The sector has become one of India’s largest industries, both in terms of revenue and employment. The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a rapid time due to its services, strengthening coverage and increasing expenditure by public as well private players.
Ayurveda is gaining recognition like wind all over the world. India becoming the world’s 2nd largest exporter of Ayurvedic & alternative medicine. The wellness sector includes segments such as beauty, fitness and nutrition, alternative therapies, among others. Of these, rejuvenation services such as spas, alternative therapies, Ayurveda treatments and beauty services are expected to grow at around 30%, while the fitness sector which includes gyms and slimming centres is expected to expand by more than 25%.The healthcare market can increase three-fold to Rs 8.6 trillion (US$ 133.44 billion) by 2022.
Future of Healthcare
Technology plays a vital role in simplifying the lives of human beings. Many professionals depend upon technology. Healthcare might be one of the sectors that gets most of the technology innovation and healthcare that has proven to simplify complex procedures and increase the accuracy in treatment. Various startups have emerged using technology in curing serious diseases including cancer in the recent years.
Today the IoT is improving quality and reducing costs by tracking equipment’s patients, staff and much more. The possibilities for the future are endless. Extending healthcare to the home is already making it possible to collect data and track wellness, which is changing the management of chronic pain and disease and the data will be integrated seamlessly into electronic health records. So doctors can remotely monitor patients in real time. It will be more common to meet with the doctor through telemedicine.
Clinical decision support systems (CDSS), a software used to serve healthcare professionals make correct decisions, have become the standard in massive healthcare institutions. The Digital India push has seen more healthcare services adopt features like electronic medical/health records (EMR/EHRs).
Though the top management of many healthcare facilities agree on the benefits of CDSS, the expense remains a major drawback. As Joy Chakraborty, Chief Operating Officer, PD Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai puts it, “One of the main reasons for failure of complete acceptance and proliferation of CDSS in our country is that the costs are quite prohibitive.” Presently the expense ranges from approximately more than Rs50 lakh for the software and the license costs on a user-to-user basis.
Artificial Intelligence is the ability for computerized machines to mimic human thought processes. AI combined with natural language processing could provide clinical decision support. In the future AI could break through boundaries in ways that are beyond expectations.
Conclusion
Last but not the least, the reform of our healthcare system should be undertaken in the same spirit of continuous development and renewal that has so often been the keystone of success in India. The profound changes needed for effective reform, even when the nation builds on the existing strengths of its health care system, demand that we learn from experience.
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