Affordable healthcare in India

Abstract

India is emerging as an economic super-power in the world but it still has low per capita income. India’s per capita income in 2010-11 was INR 53,331 . It was ranked 94th in per capita GDP across countries and was also ranked as the poorest among G-20 . Thus, in a country like India where a per capita income is so low, there are major challenges that needs to be addressed. One of those challenges is providing quality health care to the greater mass of population. As per the data, average spending on health in India is US$ 32 (around INR 1760 ) as compared to developed countries which expend as much US$ 4590 (around INR 252,450), approximately 10 times more than India . Paradoxically, the number of patients is much higher and is expected to rise even further by 2025 when the average age of the population would be nearing to 60 (PWC report). The prevalence of diseases caused due to life style changes are also be higher. India also has about 2.8 million cancer patients and has the largest number of heart patients in the world. These statistics lead one to think if the medical facilities in the country are adequately equipped to handle these? The data and research, however, shows otherwise. The research by PWC shows other interesting findings as well. It states that the healthcare market in India is one of the most lucrative and one which is experiencing rapid expansion. The market size is expected to be around US$ 40 billion (around INR 2200 billion) in 2010 and is expected to reach US$ 280 billion (around INR 15.4 trillion) by 2020 . Medical tourism is another phenomenon which is on the rise and India is catering to not only its own people but also foreign visitors who find health facilities in their own countries a trifle costlier. However, considering that almost 60% of India’s population is in cities and villages and is too poor to afford the cost of medicine, we have to check the viability of ramping up the current healthcare infrastructure. Perhaps, a better idea would be to look at some of the different models in healthcare services and check their sustainability and scalability. The given report studies the different hospitals like Aravind Eye Hospital, Vaatsalya, LifeSpring Hospitals and Narayana. Hrudyalaya, all of which cater to a different segment yet are very similar in their approach of providing quality health care at affordable prices. The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the different business business models and understand if these can be replicated across different healthcare segments. Also, through this study, an effort has been made to offer recommendations as to what model is most viable and which of these (or their combination) could be used successfully to scale up the Indian healthcare industry.