Opprtunities and scope of technology in contemporary Indian healthcare industry

Abstract

Amid the covid pandemic, it was quite evident that how important is having enough resources in and capacities in place in the healthcare industry, given the uncertainties in the industry. Serving over 1.3 billion people we currently possess one of the biggest healthcare systems in the world and it has seen a significant growth over the last decades reaching from mere $45bn in 2008 to an expected market size of $372 bn. The backbone of this growth is the boom in technology and its adoption across the value chain in healthcare sector. This is further accelerated by government of India initiatives to invent in medical infrastructure, 100% FDI addition, Insurance provision, increasing workforce etc., As a result The e-pharma, online consultation through third party apps, Online fitness suggesting apps, Healthtech devices such as wearables, smartphones, lOT and nanotech have helped consumers an easy access to healthcare and had people health history more than they know themselves. These data records can be analyzed through AI-ML capabilities and are providing insights into personal healthcare. Having a national database of health records (NDHM) also helps government to better provide healthcare facilities by integrating with private players and targeting the right beneficiaries for framing policies. However, there are some fears associated with the usage of medical data as it is sensitive to each patient. Data-patient trust which is the building block of healthcare system is at a risk given an approximately 300million hacking attempts, 20 breaches happening every day. Maintaining the confidentiality of data and not using it for unethical marketing/ business related purposes is a serious threat user are concerned about. There is severe need for tech players to build trust and demonstrate among the communities by ethical usage of data and innovate in Healthtech segment by deploying intelligent solutions, new tools to improve customer satisfaction.