Future
of
Health
Care
in
India
-
Dr.
Panna
Choudhury,
Ex
National
president,
IAP.
India
is
striving
hard
to
improve
its
health
sector
and
meet
its
Millennium
Development
Goals.
Increasing
health
awareness
in
the
population,
comparatively
affordable
treatment,
higher
health
insurance
penetration
and
growing
private
sector
involvement,
create
huge
opportunity
in
this
area.
But
the
challenges
persists
as
key
health
indicators
lag
behind
with
inequitable
health
care
access,
large
infrastructure
gaps,
scarce
and
underutilized
manpower
and
high
out
of
pocket
costs
which
is
not
sustainable
in
a
low
per
capita
income
economy.
The
future
of
healthcare
lies
in
an
integrated
participation
between
public
and
private
sector
addressing
the
need
of
the
community
for
a
healthier
India.
Quality
health
care
access
in
an
equitable
manner
is
the
primary
focus
in
this
area.
With
growing
awareness
and
increasing
incomes,
patients
are
demanding
healthcare
units
that
are
close,
quick
and
quality
conscious.
The
mantra
is
to
focus
on
preventive
care
than
just
have
patients
landing
up
in
sick
care.
The
trend
is
rising
for
retail
clinics,
single
speciality,
secondary
and
tertiary
care
units
as
well
as
tele-‐
medicine
and
remote
diagnosis.
Tax
sops
and
higher
disposable
incomes
make
Tier
2
and
3
cities
attractive
to
large
private
sector
healthcare
players,
even
as
medical
tourism
drives
the
growth
of
specialized
health
cities.
However,
penetration
remains
poor
with
under-‐utilized
existing
facilities
and
lack
of
skilled
manpower.
There
is
urgent
need
to
augment
health
care
rural
sector
and
address
the
need
of
urban
poor.
With
the
government
healthcare
spending
not
growing
apace
with
the
GDP,
and
a
low
insurance
penetration,
high
out
of
pocket
expenses
significantly
hinder
access
to
the
needy.
Skilled
manpower
and
infrastructure
are
the
biggest
challenges.
There
is
a
shortage
of
over
1.5
million
skilled
doctors,
nurses
and
administrators.
Medical
education
is
a
big
opportunity
with
a
huge
deficit
in
improving
skill
levels
across
every
level
of
health
workers,
from
upskilling
ASHA
workers,
to
increasing
graduate
and
postgraduate
seats.
There
has
been
a
50%
drop
in
nursing
admissions
with
the
profession
being
perceived
to
have
low
career
progression.
This
is
further
compounded
by
migration
of
skilled
nurses
to
richer
countries
for
better
opportunities.
Private
participation
in
medical
education
is
needed
in
a
big
way.
With
increasing
healthcare
facilities,
there
is
creation
of
more
job
opportunities
to
make
this
sector
more
lucrative
to
aspiring
professionals.
With
hospitals
moving
from
the
conventional
models
of
visiting
doctors
to
providing
full
term
employments,
specialists
are
getting
attracted
even
to
far
off
locations,
with
the
promise
of
volume
and
career
progression.
India
has
a
bed
deficit
of
almost
30
lakh
beds
according
to
the
WHO
recommendation
of
four
beds
per
1000
population.
While
high
capital
costs
is
a
huge
challenge,
involvement
of
the
private
sector