Healthcare Expansion India Summit

'Transition from curative to preventive healthcare is a challenge for NRHM'

The summit was graced by top guns of the Indian healthcare industry

Healthcare Expansion India Summit, which was organised on 3rd and 4th of June in Mumbai by naseba, a company specialised in producing upper level B2B summits, tradeshows across different verticals, saw a congregation of healthcare experts and discussions on key issues in Indian healthcare. The summit was graced by top guns of the Indian healthcare industry and dealt with a variety of topics ranging from telemedicine, energy management in healthcare to India's positioning in the global healthcare map.

The first speaker to address the summit was R Basil, Executive President Healthcare, Apollo Hospitals Group, who gave an in depth perspective of future of Indian healthcare industry. Basil said that technology has completely transformed the Indian healthcare scenario and the future of telemedicine in India seemed bright. The advancements in medical equipments have greatly enhanced clinical outcomes and there has been an increased focus on preventive healthcare by private healthcare. Fifty million additional jobs are going to be produced within the Indian healthcare industry in the next five years. Aryuveda discipline of medicine is on the roll by gaining Rs 6,000 crore business and the future of outsourcing of clinical trials to India is healthy. While giving an overview of the challenges, Basil said, "In terms of medical education, where are we today? India faces severe shortage in human capital and infrastructure. We require 1.5 million doctors, but do we have enough seats for PG in the country? We need at least 600 new medical colleges in this country." He further voiced concerns about the low penetration of health insurance among Indian population. Basil said that Indian healthcare needs more convergence and collaborative efforts among private healthcare and Government, and that cross subsidisation is the need of the hour. Narasimha Murthy, Pre-Sales Head, Alcatel Lucent, South Asia spoke on the concept of connected medicine for enabling patient centric healthcare. "Connected medicine is a dynamic and comprehensive connection between a patient and his medical care which comprises aspects of wellness, chronic, acute and palliative care." Murthy gave an example of University of Pittsburg Medical Centre, where the concept of connected medicine was implemented. He explained how the centre environment which had different dispersed systems and silos, with no convergence, was connected with the uniform network foundation and took care of aspects like patient safety, bed side patient education etc.

Rajendra Pratap Gupta, President, Disease Management Association of India spoke on healthcare reforms. "Around the world, nations are struggling to correct their healthcare systems backward, which is a big challenge. But fortunately, India is at a point in time where we can choose and embed strong fundamentals in our healthcare system, as we are just starting to build the healthcare model. We can build our indigenous healthcare system and stop importing failures," said Gupta. Biggest Challenge in healthcare is not technology, medical errors, compliance, prevention or disease management. They are all just opportunities coming out because of us failing to address the biggest challenge; to convert 'suffering populations' into 'active patients.

A survey by the Indian Medical Society had found that 75 per cent of qualified consulting doctors practice in urban centers, 23 per cent in semi urban areas and only 2 per cent in rural areas, where about 65 per cent of the population lives. We cannot change this for sure. "Now we know the problem. The solution should be based on this premise. With 3 G a reality, solution is not just affordable, but quickly possible," said Gupta.

The discussion forum thereafter brought to the table a uniform vision and strategy to enable prosperity and growth. Key questions such as how will we achieve the 3As (accessibility, accountability and affordability) in healthcare services, is public/private partnership the way forward for the industry, is free healthcare for all achievable, were evaluated. The discussion session was moderated by Dr Uma Nambiar, CEO, Fortis SL Raheja Hospital, Kolkata and panelist were Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO, Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai Dr Rupali Basu, CEO, Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, Kolkata and Vivek Desai, CEO, Hosmac, Mumbai. While responding to whether we can use technology to lower the cost of healthcare and build convergence to lower the cost of medicines, Dr Chatterjee emphasised on the rapport to be built between vendors and administrators and managers. "Can we complement each other? Also, can four to five hospitals come together and by the equipment to reduce the cost?," he asked. Dr Desai said that insurance is the way forward to make healthcare more affordable. According to Dr Basu, accountability in healthcare will only come through accreditation and standardisation process. Accreditation should be made compulsory, she added. While giving her view on PPPs, Dr Nambiar pointed out that each partner should be used as per its domain strength. There should be no hidden agendas and everything, including limitations, should be on the table.

Dr Krishnan Ganapathy, Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation, spoke on telehealth as the reinvention of healthcare. Said Dr Ganapathy, "We have to think out of the box. We are able to restore house visits through the concept of telehealth, why can't we make electronic house visits?" Future of healthcare delivery is through mobile, he said.

Dr V K Singh (Retd) Director, IIHMR, spoke on National Rural Health Mission's (NRHM) objectives and challenges. Said Dr Singh, "Transition from curative to preventive healthcare is a challenge for NRHM. Human resource management is a critical aspect of the immense scaling up represented by NRHM." He further said that convergence is a powerful theme in the area of human development and inclusive growth and that the approach to public health must look at different stages of health transition at state and district level to adopt appropriate strategies.

Dr Shubnum Singh, Chief Medical Affairs, Max Healthcare gave a key presentation on where do we see India on the global healthcare map? This session investigated the facilitators to improving and enhancing medical care in the country and where we should concentrate on improving our healthcare system. Sameer Mehta, COO, Hosmac Projects gave an insight on effective energy management of hospitals in India. Express Healthcare was the media partner for the event.

EH News Bureau