Role Of Private Healthcare Networks Will Become Even More Important In 2022
08 January, 2022 by Sougat Chatterjee
Talking about the increasing population of our nation, Chatterjee explains the importance of private healthcare networks.
A phenomenal increase in Indian population over the years along with the rise in number of infectious diseases in the country and now with the Covid prevailing has acted as a driver for private sector healthcare networks to be supported so that together with the Government we can provide a robust future ready healthcare infrastructure by 2022. While as a country we aspire for a USD 5 trillion economy but at the same time as per a WHO report India envisages a USD 3.2 trillion spent on health crisis in the next 5 years. The said figures excites & shocks us at the same time. The only way to mitigate the problem is by empowering and strengthening the private sector network, by which we can provide reach and also by means of volume bring down the value & make it affordable.
The population of our nation and its effect
India is a country of 1.35 billion people and there is no one size fits all solution. Health lies in the context of social determinants like access, poverty, gender, class inequalities and one needs to be sensitive to all. There is a need to focus on primary, secondary care and preventive services to expand the reach and ensure early diagnosis and detection. Right now tertiary and curative care is heavily focused upon and that is also concentrated in few pockets and metros of the country. Asset light models in specialised care which can be replicated in tier 2 and 3 cities need to be encouraged. Trained healthcare manpower also wants to migrate abroad and practice where bigger hospitals and infrastructure exists.
Opportunities through digital transformation
Compassion and equity in healthcare needs to be pushed and healthcare models which address large populations. One needs to create manpower with basic skills across different forms of healthcare systems which is being done by the government which would not be immediately accepted by all but is one of the solutions to plug the gap in this vast country. There needs to be a cadre of healthcare practitioners who can detect and refer people as early as possible in the healthcare system. There is a need to push infrastructure creation along with insurance provision for the poor and needy. The atma-nirbhar initiative gives a push towards self - reliance in infrastructure and medical devices production. Digital transformation can help people access healthcare across but it also need to be balanced with its use and ease of adoption. Entrepreneurship in healthcare should be encouraged and doctors and business teams who want to venture and set up facilities in rural areas should be incentivised. There is an opportunity to explore better private public partnerships. The Bhore committee report of 1946 still is the fundamental report which focus on holistic care in the country to tackle communicable and non-communicable diseases. Therefore, creating skilled manpower, asset light specialised models which could be scaled up across the country, digital transformation, addressing social inequalities can help us address these issues. We have seen a lot of changes in the way the Healthcare Industry works due to COVID. There is a need to learn from the social fissures and health care infrastructure deficiencies which have been bought to the fore. These cracks were there in the system and the patients were falling through it earlier. But the Covid times has brought issues of access, mental health and availability of services to the forefront. It might happen that these concerns might again recede to the background once this exigency of the pandemic subsides. We hope that our country and civil society, administrators and politicians learn and reflect and use this adversity to bring in the necessary changes to our healthcare system. We need to liberalize healthcare so that all sections of the society irrespective of their gender, equity, class and caste are able to access healthcare. Though there is a push to digital healthcare, we need to see that all sections of our country are able to access it like the banking and telecom revolution. The digital and telemedicine transformation needs to start from our doctors and healthcare staff to start using it actively. There is a need to have empathy as the out of pocket expenditure is still about 70% and above and the insurance penetration is still very less. Trained manpower at the grassroot level where our majority of population resides need to be pushed which the government has started doing.
Mental health issues
There is a need to focus on prevention and tackle non-communicable diseases and mental health issues urgently. We need to quickly start plugging these gaps rather than again pushing them under the carpet. We have been having an ostrich with its head in the sand approach towards these areas and its high time we invest our energies into it with a long term perspective apart from looking to generate profits and returns immediately. It is clearly evident from the pandemic that if the society enjoys good physical and mental health , then rest follows as a consequence of better employment, opportunities and economic growth. Healthcare will occupy an important role in our lives if we pay heed to the lessons imparted and we are vigilant and humble to imbibe them and take steps. India’s total healthcare spending is at 3.6% of GDP, which is very less compared to other developed countries. There is definitely a need to increase investment in the healthcare sector. There is also though a need to change the paradigm of healthcare delivery through asset light models, prevention and primary care services. There is a need to address the inequalities existing in the society. We do compare the investments done in developed countries but we would need to tweak what are the problems we are facing and invest accordingly long term. Impact in healthcare outcomes take a long time and areas of primary care and mental health , medical devices, specialised care centres in tier 2 and 3 cities and access to insurance is needed. We need to increase our spending to at least 8% of the GDP and build manpower and infrastructure across the rural and semi-urban areas in the country. Healthcare is a fundamental right. Covid 19 has exposed the gaps and lacunae in our healthcare system and we need to start urgently addressing it with increasing the investment and making healthcare more accessible, affordable to all.
The private medical sector is a resource that must be estimated for efficient inclusion into public healthcare. A streamlined pathway to facilitate the private sector to join hands with the public sector for a national cause is the need of the hour.
Sharing my article as published on BW Businessworld BWHealthcare
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