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Editorial
Reality check
Despite over 60 years of socialism the overall picture that
emerges across the nation is of Sub Saharan conditions of
health care due to the absence of an universal public health
system; lopsided medicare, thanks to the overwhelming emphasis
on urban development and lack of regulation. For a nation
in excess of a billion people India has only about 203,723
government-run hospitals and clinics compared to China’s
320,000. It does India’s case no good that it falls
dramatically short of World Health Organisation standards
of one doctor per 1,800 people. The country has just six doctors
per 10,000 people, compared to 14 in China and eight in South
Africa. Public health expenditure in India is amongst the
lowest in the world as a share of GDP, around 1 per cent.
To be fair however the government’s flagship programmes
– National Urban Health Mission and National Rural Heath
Mission is seeking to make an impact on the country’s
health landscape inspite of the limited budget, delays through
bureaucratic logjam and inter ministry squabbles over turf.
What is further gratifying is that the healthcare delivery
sector is set for take off. It is on the verge of witnessing
a major transition in terms of the quality of services provided
and India’s competitiveness in the global arena, according
to study by CRISIL Research. Apart from a change in demographics,
improvement in health awareness and a rise in incomes, a change
in the disease profile, rising penetration of health insurance
and increasing opportunities from medical tourism will fuel
the demand for healthcare facilities in India. The healthcare
delivery industry is all set to become the engine of economic
growth with lucrative pockets of opportunity.
The potential of the current Rs 1,253 billion healthcare
delivery market is Rs 2,172 billion by 2011 and Rs 3,642 billion
by 2016. Indeed these are busy times for India’s health
care sector. The huge health care infrastructure gap has led
to an opportunity for private sector medical players, who
occupy close to 80 per cent of the country’s medical
universe, and PE funds to invest in superspeciality hospitals
and clinics. The new additions to health care are a natural
concomitant of a reality check. Six years ago the Confederation
of Indian Industry National Committee, chaired by Trehan commissioned
McKinsey to prepare a report on the state of national health
care and found clear indicators that “it was one third
of what we should have been by number of beds, by number of
doctors, by way of nurses…Admittedly there have been
some favourable signs like increased life expectancy, decline
in infant mortality and morbidity but the results are not
as good as other countries in India’s neighbourhood
like Thailand and Malaysia had managed. With the private sector
in aggressive mode and the huge potential yet to be realised,
now is the time to consolidate.
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