bio chat
with Indian partners
on a pilot to give Indian
patients with NCDs access
to continuing medical
monitoring and advice.
This work looks very
promising.
Out-of-pocket costs are
high in India but access
to low-cost medicines is
not the top problem for
most NCD patients. Once
the condition has been
recognized and diagnosed,
it is a question of allowing
patients to get access to
quality-assured medicines
that are affordable.
India is such a vast and
decentralized country
that it is difficult to
implement a program
such as Novartis Access
at national level. Because
health is predominantly
a state responsibility,
I would not rule out
working with one of the
states to adapt Novartis
Access to the local
situation.
However, our main
focus in the country is
on a program that was
specifically developed
for India. Arogya Parivar
is now 10 years old and
offers more than 100 low-
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BioVoiceNews | June 2017
cost medications against
both communicable
and noncommunicable
diseases that are prevalent
in rural India. It operates
in 11 states and covers
more than 12,000 villages
that are home to 70
million people. Plans are
under way to include the
Novartis Access portfolio
in the Arogya Parivar
offering.
Is universal health
coverage possible
in a highly populous
country like India?
How?
Yes, but we need to be
careful about the term. I
don’t think that there is
one model of universal
health coverage that
countries can simply
adopt. UHC is not a “one-
size-fits-all” approach
and models that work
in Europe or the US will
not work in India. This
is why governments
need to “home-grow”
their systems, so that
they are adapted to
their health needs. This
includes setting the right
framework conditions
(including up-to-date
essential medicines lists
and treatment guidelines)
but also remaining flexible
and open as to how they
procure and distribute
healthcare products and
services.
India is strengthening
ways to improve access
to healthcare, health
insurance being one of
them, and these differ
across the country.
Yet, it is not our job
as a company to be
prescriptive about how the
states or the government
expand access. Rather,
we want to act as partners
and engage as part of