Health Care

Health Care: The prevention, treatment,and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions.

According to WHO           

Primary Health care envisages attainment of healthy status for all.  Being holistic in nature it is intertwined with diverse principles and components, to provide preventive, promotive curative and rehabilitative care services.

The present document presents the Indian scenario of primary health care.  This piece of work makes an attempt to review the progress of primary health care in its totality.  The entire document is divided into 6 sections.  Each section does not stand compartmentalized on its own but is presented to cover all the dimensions of primary health care tat are of relevance today.

Brief Overview

India is poised to record additional progress in its economy after the slump that astounded almost all the key markets around the globe, the initial signs and financial report all presenting an optimistic ascending trend. The rising reputation of India on the transnational ground is one of the major reasons that have prompted a rise in the number of foreign tourists and corporate visitors in the country, thereby giving a boost to the various sectors in the economy which also includes healthcare and medical tourism sectors.

It has been clearly suggested that the healthcare sector will transform into a major sector that will fuel the economic growth and largely contribute to increased revenues, along with IT Services and Education sectors by the All India Management Association in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) together in their "India's New Opportunities- 2020". Also, the report further suggests that these new opportunities are expected to create 40 million new jobs and around 200 billion increased revenues by the end of 2020.

Health Tourism

Medical tourism is one of the foremost external drivers of evolution of the Indian healthcare industry. India has emerged as a destination for health tourism which serves its consumers with well educated, state-of-theartprivate hospitals and diagnostic conveniences, English-speaking medical staff, and comparatively low cost to address the high healthcare costs of the western world. India provides best treatment, in some cases at very low prices as compared to countries like USA, and UK. India's private hospitals excel in fields such as cardiology, gastroenterology, joint replacement, ophthalmology, orthopaedic surgery,  transplants and urology.

Health Care in India

The Indian Healthcare sector is expected double its size to US$ 100 billion by 2015 from the present US$ 50 billion, according to recent findings by ratings agency Fitch. Some of the driving factors for the growth of the sector include growing population, increasing lifestyle related health issues, cheaper treatment costs, thrust in medical tourism, improving health insurance penetration, increasing disposable income, government initiatives and focus on Public Private Partnership (PPP) models.

Another report by an industry body has stated that India’s spent on healthcare is expected to be 8 per cent of GDP by 2012, from 5.6 per cent in 2009. Private sector expenditure in the healthcare segment is expected to reach US$ 46 billion by 2012.
The Investment Commission of India has also estimated the sector to grow to US$ 80 billion by 2012, progressing at 16 per cent annually.

According to a report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, an estimated 189 million people in the country will be more than 60 years of age by 2025, needing higher healthcare spends.

Investment Opportunities

A combined study by an industry body and Ernst & Young suggests that India will need as many as 1.75 million additional beds by the end of 2025. Further, an investment of US$ 86 billion is required to achieve 1 doctor, 2 beds and 2.3 nurses per 1000 population by 2025.

As per a recent CII-McKinsey report, the growth of the healthcare sector can contribute 6 to 7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and increase employment by at least 2.5 million by 2012. McKinsey-CII report also estimates the number of potential insurable lives at 315 million with a potential of US$ 7.7 billion in health insurance premium by 2015.

Medical tourism in India has also received a boost with arrival of patients from countries with advanced medical systems. This underlines the fact that India has good infrastructure and talent.

According to a new report published by RNCOS, titled "Booming Medical Tourism in India" India’s share in the global medical tourism industry will reach around 3 per cent by the end of 2013. The report states that medical tourism is expected to generate revenue around US$ 3 billion by 2013, growing at a CAGR of around 26 per cent during 2011–2013. The number of medical tourists is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 19 per cent during the forecast period to reach 1.3 million by 2013.

Hospital trade is a growing business opportunity for other sectors such as food retail as some large hospitals are getting almost 1,000-1,500 outpatients per day and visitors for inpatients who are also potential customers. Food retail has about 15 per cent of its business coming from hospitals. Au Bon Pain has one outlet at Cradle, a maternity hospital in Bengaluru, and is likely to set up four more in one year through this format. The US-based bakery chain is now looking at West Asia and India as potential growth markets for this format.

The rural healthcare sector is also witnessing considerable growth, with the sector adding around 15,000 health sub-centres and employing 30,000 nurses and midwives during the last five years, as per the Rural Health Survey Report 2010 of the Ministry of Health. As per the report, the primary health centres in the country has reached 20,109, growing by 84 per cent.

The Indian health insurance market is also on an upsurge providing lucrative growth avenue for both the existing players as well as the new entrants. According to the RNCOS report, the health insurance market is one the fastest growing and second largest non-life insurance segment in the country. Posting tremendous growth in the last two fiscals, the health insurance premium is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25 per cent for the period spanning from 2009-10 to 2013-14.

The Andhra Pradesh government has successfully implemented the US$ 59.68 million Health Management Project funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the UK. Other states as well are considering implementing similar models.

With 3G there are possibilities of remote treatment and diagnosis of patients through mobile phones. Also, with the number of cellphone users currently at 600 million and rapidly increasing by 20 million every month, some telecom operators and value-added service developers such as Nokia and BlackBerry are considering usage of mobile phones for diagnostic and treatment support, remote disease monitoring, health awareness and communication.

As per the report, "Healthcare Information Technology Market in India" released by Frost & Sullivan electronic medical record (EMR) services have a high growth potential at an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5 per cent from 2009 to 2016. With many new private hospitals opening in the next few years, investment in EMR is expected to become a necessity for these hospitals.

Further, as per an industry body report medical devices and supplies market in India is expected to touch US$ 1.8 billion in 2010. It is expected to reach US$ 2.3 billion by 2012.