Healthcare Need Care [Jan 2012]

The devastating fire incident in Kolkata hospital which took the life of more than 90 patients has left many of us in bewilderment! If that is the case in a so-called ‘state-of-the-art’ hospital, what will happen if fire broke-out in public hospitals which are much neglected? Every citizen of this country deserves efficient healthcare from government. Mayank Madhani, Head of Project (RMC Division) at Neev Group talks about the need of better infrastructure in healthcare sector
The significance of the hospital infrastructure can be underscored simply by highlighting this fact that Indian healthcare industry is currently estimated at US$ 40 billion of which 50 per cent comprises of hospital infrastructure followed by pharmaceuticals at 25 per cent, insurance & medical equipment at 15 per cent and diagnostics making up for the balance 10 per cent. The healthcare industry is expected to grow to around US$ 79 billion by 2012 and almost US$ 280 billion by 2020 and the growth of hospital infrastructure is expected to be proportionate to it.
Healthcare expenditure at its lowestIndian healthcare expenditure is still amongst the lowest globally and there are significant challenges to be addressed both in terms of accessibility of healthcare service and quality of patient care. India rates poorly on even the basic healthcare indicators when benchmarked against not only the developed economies, but also the other BRIC nations. The tabulation below is evidence of the fact that a significant portion of the Indian population is unable to access healthcare services which is a consequence of:

Lack of healthcare infrastructure
Lack of trained and qualified manpower.
Rural Healthcare NeglectedAccessibility to healthcare infrastructure on an overall basis is relatively imbalanced and is extremely limited to many rural areas of the country. In addition, existing healthcare infrastructure is unplanned and is irregularly distributed. Further, there is a severe lack of trained doctors and nurses to service the needs of the large Indian populous.
The private sector has evolved a multi-pronged approach to increase accessibility and penetration. It has tackled the issue of lifestyle related diseases with the development of high-end tertiary care facilities. Also new delivery models such as day-care centres, single specialty hospitals, end-of-life care centres, etc. are on the horizon to service larger sections of the population and address specific needs.
However, public health infrastructure continues to struggle in rural India in terms of wider access to healthcare for all without imposing undue burden on them. Villagers end up spending 1.5 times more compared to their urban counterparts for same illness and their funding is predominantly out of privately borrowed funds or either out of a property mortgage. People have therefore been forced to switch between meagre and inefficient public services or provide for expensive private treatment at the nearest town/city or at times forego care entirely except in life threatening situations in the fear of sliding into indebtedness. Though almost 70 per cent of population still resides in rural areas even today, majority of funds (public and private) is allocated to the urban centres. There is no way we can enhance the quality of rural health without making primary and secondary healthcare amenities available to rural areas.
While this represents significant opportunity for the private sector, the government can also play an important role in facilitating this evolution. There is a dearth of primary and secondary healthcare facilities across rural India. The existing set of public hospitals at district and sub-district levels lack good management, adequate funding are grossly understaffed and have poorly maintained and outdated medical equipments. The need is to assess, plan, build, restore, upgrade and maintain primary & secondary healthcare hospitals in rural areas to ensure that every village or a cluster of villages above a certain population can avail healthcare benefits in its immediate neighbouring vicinity of less than 2 to 5 kilometres.
A significant investment in the existing Medical Infrastructure (i.e. Restoration, Upgradation and Modernisation) is the order of the day.

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