‘Healthcare needs to be scaled up’

The healthcare industry in the country has to find an effective way to scale up to meet demands, said experts at the CII session on ‘Challenges and opportunities in Indian healthcare’, on Sunday.

“Healthcare is unorganised in India. There are a number of doctors who have done some great work, but not enough is invested in organisation as in clinical excellence,” said E.S. Krishnamoorthy, founder director and chief consultant of Neurokrish hospital.

“Doctors tend to be very territorial, we should learn to be more collaborative,” he said.

“The healthcare industry needs to look at other industries and their growth patterns to be able to develop systems and processes that drive growth.”

Ramakrishnan, a partner at the investment consultancy firm, Spark Capital, said: “At some level, the problem is a professional one. There are only around 10 healthcare companies that have Rs. 500-crore-or-more turnover. There is a second set of companies that is catching up, but there is a problem of fragmentation in the industry.”

Speaking of medical tourism, Mohan Kameshwaran, managing director of Merf India, said, “India scores over many centres in the U.K. and the U.S. in terms of quality healthcare and the rates are just 10 per cent of the prices in these countries. There is still large scope for the industry.”

Another potential area of growth, which is not being tapped, is manufacturing of medical devices, said Dr. Kameshwaran. “Many people think that manufacturing of medical devices needs large investment, but in reality, around 90 per cent of devices are low-tech and can be easily produced in the country,” he said.

The session also featured talks by R. Senthil Kumar, COO of Vasan Eye Care, Raju Venkatraman, founder director of Medall Healthcare, Vikram Rajan, senior health specialist, World Bank, and Mathew Elliot, principal investment officer at International Finance Organisation (IFC), Health and Education, South Asia.