In the last five years, the Indian health care sector has been streamlined for the better and has experienced rapid expansion. There have been several innovations and policy introductions to support this. Recently, the government announced its decision to extend health insurance to all citizens over 70, raising the bar on health care equity. Digitalisation of health care is another major step, where telehealth has transformed health care delivery. With the expertise of doctors and the medical facilities offered by top hospitals, India has also emerged as a leading medical tourism destination, bringing in the all-important revenue to make health care a growth driving sector. In the next five years, beginning 2024, there is little doubt that health care in India is going to be one of the fastest growing sectors, poised for exponential growth and progress.
Having said that, one cannot ignore the deficiencies. If India wants to be a leader in health care, it needs to bridge many gaps. The public health care infrastructure is poor and tilted heavily in favour of cities, while primary and tertiary care in rural areas remain largely neglected. The private sector can be encouraged to build hospitals and clinics in rural areas and follow the template of a hub-and-spoke model. The second most crucial and dire situation is the shortage of doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals. The World Health Organization recommends 44.5 doctors, nurses, midwives per 10,000 inhabitants; it is 20.6 per 10,000 inhabitants in India. The private sector can play a proactive two-pronged role in carrying out a recruitment drive from the large pool of those who have passed high school or higher secondary, empowering them with skills in emergency care, first aid, CPR, midwifery, wet nursing and the like. Tapping into the large population and upskilling them will not only resolve employment issues but help bridge the shortage of health care staff. Introducing stringent training will also help improve clinical governance standards which, at present, are not streamlined.
Health care needs to be made more accessible by investing in mobile clinics, initiating public awareness campaigns and preventive screenings for diseases such as breast, cervical and lung cancer along with stronger immunisation drives against communicable diseases to provide a level of herd immunity to the community. The government also needs to encourage the use of telemedicine for mental health awareness and to increase its reach for monitoring the health of people in villages.
India has a large pool of alternative medicine practices such as ayurveda, unani and homoeopathy where people are less apprehensive of taking treatment. Insurance companies can provide coverage to the recognised stream of medicines, and this can encourage some form of preventive screening.
These and many more gaps in the health care system pose a tough challenge, but there is nothing that cannot be overcome with a multifaceted strategy comprising policy interventions, greater investments and thorough reforms. It is only through collaboration and collective efforts that we would be able to maintain the momentum for health care to be the fastest growing economic sector in India.
* Bridge crucial health care gaps
* Encourage private hospitals to build hospitals in rural areas
* Greater investments, and thorough reforms
* Address shortage of doctors, nurses and allied health care experts
* Invest in mobile clinics, initiate public awareness campaigns
