Low cost medical solutions: A study of Indian start-ups

Abstract

While India is on the growth phase on many areas, health care is not being given its due importance. Access to proper health care which is within the affordability range of the people is lacking in many parts of India. According to FICCI working paper1, 80% of urban households and 90% of rural households find average cost of the in-patient treatment to be half of their annual incomes. 3% of India’s population slips below poverty in every year due to high medical costs. To solve these problems, several start-ups in health care industry are coming up with innovative and affordable solutions that have potential to make a high social impact. We plan to study such start - ups and their journey in coming up with new products, technology and processes. We wanted to know the challenges they faced, the support they got in terms of funding and other resources. We have also identified the support these start-ups have received from the ecosystem which includes government, NGOs, VCs, patients and the universities. Medical technology and diagnostics industry is in a nascent stage in India. It has huge opportunities for innovation combined with large market potential. At the same time, due to lack of structured standards and policies, medical devices industry poses many challenges for new players. Under this scenario, it is important for those companies to address the needs of the society overcoming the challenges that current industry has.