The George Institute for Global Health, an international health policy and research organisation, has made a call for a fundamentally different way to deliver healthcare to all who need it. They are organising ‘Big Change: sustainable healthcare for the 21st century’. It is a joint effort with Entrepreneurship Centre at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, and is organised in partnership with “Silicon Valley comes to Oxford’’. This year it will focus on the need for affordable innovation that is both sustainable and can deliver healthcare to those who need it most.
India is a key proponent of such innovation, and as such is expected to be represented by high profile healthcare researchers, policy makers, entrepreneurs and government officials. This major international event will take place at the University of Oxford on 22 – 23 November 2013.
“Innovation has an essential role to play, not only in improving healthcare standards around the world, but even in maintaining existing standards, given constrained funding,” says Stephen MacMahon, Principal Director of The George Institute.
The need for innovation is greatest of all in low-income countries, he argues. “In resource-poor parts of Asia, the models of healthcare that have developed in the west are inappropriate and impossible to apply. Instead, we need new tools, new delivery systems, and new financial models that will work in poor communities.”
There will be four complementary streams each involving both plenary sessions and workshops: Innovation in Health Services Delivery; Innovation in Healthcare Technologies; Financing Healthcare Innovations; and Innovations in Pharmaceuticals and Biologics.
Leading experts and healthcare delivery innovators from India are expected to participate in this conference. They include Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Health; Keshav Desiraju, Secretary to the Government of India, Health and Family Welfare; Prof. Balram Bhargava, Professor of Cardiology at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and Executive Director, Stanford-India Biodesign Centre; Dr Ruchi Dass, Founder and CEO, HealthCursor and Dr Vivekanand Jha, Executive Director, The George Institute for Global Health, India.
Another unique Indian approach that would be in focus at the conference is that of jugaad innovation. Prof Jaideep Prabhu, Director of the Centre for India and Global Business at Judge Business School, University of Cambridge and co-author of Jugaad Innovation, will speak about the ‘frugal and flexible approach’ to innovation for the 21st century.
Jugaad has struck a chord all over a world still struggling with the consequences of major economic turmoil and seeking radical new models for business success. Prof Prabhu argues that the West must look to places like India, Brazil, and China for a new approach to innovation.
EH News Bureau