Four solutions for India’s health care sector
Delivering health care to a billion-plus population is very complex. And, like eating a Reese’s, there’s no right way to do it. In the past, Indian entrepreneurs have innovated on several business models that range from frugal to world-class luxury care. A testimony to its success is the fact that citizens spent Rs 1,650 billion, or 3.16 percent of the GDP (in 2011-12), on health care, whereas the government spent only 1.04 percent. In other words, a family of four spends nearly Rs 10,000 per year on health care. With the government once again shirking from committing higher budgets to health care, it is tempting to ask: Since there’s money on the table, can entrepreneurs devise privately financed and privately run universal health coverage? Perhaps all it needs is one disruptive idea to show that it’s possible to design comprehensive care outside the government.
We asked four health care industry leaders what it would take to deliver such care and if they’d be willing to take the first steps.
‘NO UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE SCHEME CAN RUN FOR FREE’
Dr Devi Shetty
‘WE SHOULD INCENTIVISE PRIMARY AND PREVENTIVE HEALTH CARE’
‘BUILD PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, REDUCE WASTAGE AND OVERLAPS’
‘THE PRIORITY OF THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE TO ADDRESS PRIMARY CARE’
(This story appears in the 22 March, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)