“Moving health to the concurrent list in the 7th schedule of Constitution will help rationalise and harmonise the sector” : Mr N K Singh, Chairman, 15th Finance Commission of India
By 2030, 60% of the global population will be living in Asia - With a focus on continuing deliberations related to access, affordability, awareness, and ease of adoption of technology, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organised 19th Health Summit 2022 on the theme “The Health Imperative” on 29th November 2022.
Addressing the august gathering Shri Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India said that “India is prepared to deal with the health emergencies. The goal is to work with the industry while forming synergies. The country has moved towards accessible, affordable and quality healthcare. The government has realised the value of healthy citizens and launched various initiatives like Ayushman Bharat in the health sector have proven to be milestones in fulfilling an accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare system. He further said, “Government wants to create health infrastructure which is not just limited to big cities, healthcare facilities in remote areas, at the village level, at the block level, and district level”. Hon’ble Minister called for the support of the private sector to maintain and upgrade this infrastructure. He further deliberated upon the adoption of digital technology which offers to change lives, transform lives, and stimulate growth and added that the government has created a national framework for digital health whose use would ensure accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare delivery. Lastly, he opined that “there is a need for expediting the process for getting quality professionals. More focus and concerted efforts are needed to facilitate the maximum number of people in healthcare”.
Mr N K Singh, Chairman, 15th Finance Commission of India mentioned that “certain endemic issues or long-term issues of health need attention and outlined certain key recommendations pertaining to the healthcare sector overall. including- public outlays in the health sector need to be substantially augmented, recognize the large inter-State variations on health spending and outcomes, a uniform health code will make a huge difference to the sector, moving health to the concurrent list in the 7th schedule of Constitution which will help rationalise and harmonise the sector, the Centrally Sponsored Schemes would need to be somewhat restructured, requirement of a separate financial institution for the healthcare sector, introduction of an All India Medical and Health Service in accordance with the Sub Clause-C of the Civil Services Act of 1951. Lastly, he stressed upon the fact that with G20 presidency, India has a historic opportunity for bringing in all these changes in the health sector”.
Ms Shobana Kamineni, Past President, CII and Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals “who stressed upon the need for a paradigm shift in healthcare. In the move towards re-imagining the healthcare system of India, she brought attention to 3 key opportunities for India. Firstly, India’s G20 leadership will put India at the forefront and centre of the global stage and gives the right time for healthcare to contribute to how India will engage with the rest of the world. The G20 leadership will India to create services for the global world such that the country becomes a global hub of affordable treatment for all. Secondly, she called for a technological shift in healthcare service delivery which will give a better customer experience in terms of smooth, trusted and value-based delivery and also drove down the cost of healthcare services cost. In this regard, she further said that we should not treat the technology in a silo, but it should be made available to the customer and how the customer uses the technology, in the best way possible, will be the future of having more equity in the industry. Lastly, she stressed upon the need for social equity in Indian healthcare systems. India must push forward social equity so more people can afford and access healthcare”.
Dr Naresh Trehan, Chairman, CII National Healthcare Council and Chairman & Managing Director, Medanta, The Medicity mentioned, “Government’s view for universal access is an overarching desire for all. For this, we have to always maintain our cutting-edge approach. We stand at the apt time to multiply our opportunity to serve India and serve from India. What we are doing as private sector healthcare service providers shall be supported by the government's policies. We need to collectively look at the opportunity that is available across the world.” He further specified that, “highest healthcare at moderate prices is the USP of India. We will have to learn to give the kind of healthcare where it is accessible and affordable for all and the cost can be rationalised. Insurance companies need to come up with innovative models to cater to the diverse population. He further remarked that “India is still struggling with human capital and this is the biggest hurdle for expansion plans. Therefore, there is a need to pay attention to providing quality education to doctors and nurses for sustainability”.
Thereafter, Shri Himanshu Baid, Chairman, CII MedTech Forum and Managing Director Polymed presented his views from a MedTech perspective. “He highlighted that India today stands in the top 20 markets in MedTech globally and 4th in Asia. In the last 2-3 years, there has been tremendous growth in the manufacturing of MedTech products, supported by the Government’s efforts like the PLI Scheme for MedTech products, Ease of Doing Business, and Single window clearance. The MedTech sector is 70% import dependent, however, with the aforementioned initiatives further driven by Government’s push towards ‘Make in India’ and boost to local clusters, he opined that India is likely to become the net exporter of MedTech by end of the decade. With regulatory streamlining, the industry is becoming more reliable and valuable, further leading to global harmonization. He further highlighted that “Innovative startups are booming in India through fruitful collaborations. A collaborative approach from individuals and hospitals to create MedTech products in the country is leading to great and successful results in the industry. Given the world-class medical infrastructure, India has a great advantage to scale quality and cost and with this, India will become one medical device equipment hubs of the world in years to come”.
Shri Krishnan Ramachandran, Chairman, CII Taskforce on Health Insurance & CEO and Managing Director, Niva Bupa Health Insurance mentioned that “factors responsible for the accessibility of quality healthcare to each and every Indian. The first is a need for 3 sets of actors- that is, the Government, the social sector and the private sector to work together. Secondly, he mentioned that affordability comes when the value chain delivers affordability. For this, the essence lies in how to keep the Indian citizen healthy which goes back to what we do as a country for the healthcare industry. The facility of clean drinking water, sanitation, quality and free access to primary healthcare is important and the most important ingredient of healthcare. He further added, “to scale up the Insurance penetration in the country for the lower middle class or missing middle, we need to go down the road for mandatory insurance where every Indian is insured, like the motor insurance. It is also important to subsidise or incentivise the coverage for the 300 million population, also supported by some form of public-private partnerships. How to address coverage for the missing middle is the main challenge such that high standards are maintained also it is affordable. Variability of healthcare delivery in the country has enormous to improve unit cost economics. Strive for higher standardization.”
Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health gave a perspective that, “There is only one customer and that is the patient. We need to take care of the interest of patients and every other stakeholder’s interest will be catered to. He further added that, Healthcare should be a financially viable model because health is extremely sensitive to the economy of the scale. The Model of affordable care has a business model attached to and is best suited to the patients’ satisfaction”.
Mr Rajiv Vasudevan, Chairman, CII Ayush Forum & Founder & CEO, AyurVAID Hospitals highlighted that, “We need to go back to the contemporary concept of Ayurveda and yoga and look at Ayurveda in a more realistic sense. With an increasing population shifting from rural to urban the concept of health literacy starting young is substantively realisable. We need to differentiate between treating a problem and restoring health.”
29 November 2022
New Delhi