Amongst the various Indian industries, healthcare happens to be one of the largest and significantly growing sectors both in the context of revenue and employment. One of the major reasons that has accelerated this magnificent growth is the broadened coverage, exhaustive spectrum of services, increased societal awareness and rising expenditure by both private and public stakeholders.
Apart from the current COVID-19 crisis that has created a huge turmoil in Indian healthcare and world alike, some of the factors which are driving the healthcare market in India are:
- Alarming rise of lifestyle diseases like diabetes and obesity.
- Challenging demands for robust clinical systems to combat rising healthcare costs.
- Innovative technological advancements.
- Rapid penetration of the health insurance players.
- Remarkable support by the Indian government with initiatives like e-health, tax exemptions, concessions and incentives for the people.
Healthcare Market Trends
- With rising demand, Indian healthcare market is forecasted to reach USD 372 billion in the next two years.
- The hospital industry is having a growth rate of 16-17 percent and is estimated to be nearly USD 133 billion by 2022.
- Indian medical tourism is growing at a remarkable rate of 18%.
- Health insurance and mergers and acquisitions in the hospital are gaining momentum. Nearly 20% of Indians are covered by insurance currently.
- The healthcare information technology market is expected to grow 1.5 times the current value.
- The investment in medical infrastructure is likely to cross USD 200 billion by the year 2024.
- Most of the Indian hospitals have adopted telemedicine services making healthcare accessible to many. This market is growing at a rate of 20% and is expected to reach USD 32 million this year.
- India is emerging as a leading manufacturer of wearables and is likely to sell almost 129 million of these healthcare devices by 2030.
- There is widespread adoption of Artificial Intelligence(AI) for maintaining healthcare records efficiently and providing the best possible healthcare outcomes to patients at the right times.
- The usage of robotic surgeries is gaining momentum and this market is forecasted to reach a potential of USD 350 million by the year 2025.
- The Indian government intends to raise public health funding to 2.5 percent of the GDP by the year 2025.
- The demand for healthcare services is going to increase as life expectancy beyond 70 years is likely to rise after 2022.
Gap in India Healthcare
Despite the various endeavours by the Indian government including national healthcare policies and programmes, it is ironic that the accessibility of healthcare to the economically backward citizens remains challenging. The bulk of the rural population in India cannot get care services due to the vast geographical spread and unaffordable treatment costs. Some of the other gaps in the current healthcare systems here are:
- High dependency on tertiary care providers to deliver even the basic services and facilities.
- Lack of a comprehensive healthcare technology solution that will promote the accessibility and reliability of primary care.
- Very poor doctor to patient ratio along with an acute shortage of doctors, hospital beds, nurses and other healthcare staff.
- Lengthy waiting times in hospitals and care facilities leading to poor patient experiences and increase of comorbidities.
- Poor capacity to provide preventive care especially for Non-Communicable Diseases(NCD) like diabetes.
- Dearth of amenities and infrastructure in rural areas leading to poor retention of doctors, nursing staff and paramedics.
- Severe inadequacy of healthcare workers particularly in the rural and remote areas.
- Failure to build trust in patients during online digital consultations using telemedicine technologies.
- Inability of the semi-urban and rural areas to fully capitalize on the potential of digital healthcare.
- due to lack of infrastructure and funds.
- High out-of-pocket healthcare expenses (nearly 65%) pushing millions of Indians to the poverty every year.
Indian Healthcare Consultants, along with the government support and healthcare initiatives, can build a major role in bridging these gaps by supporting the recruitment of skilled medical professionals, implementing the innovative healthcare technologies and enabling better hospital management and administration.
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