NEW DELHI, 13 October 2022: Accentuating the importance of healthcare digitization, Dr. R S Sharma, CEO, of the National Health Authority yesterday said that the initiative can bring several desirable attributes to the healthcare system.
Addressing the FICCI HEAL 2022 (concluding day) Dr. Sharma said, “Digitization will result in a number of desirable attributes in the healthcare sector. It will make health provisions more affordable and accessible and improve the quality as well.”
Dr. Harsha Rajaram, Co-Chair, of the FICCI Digital Health Task Force; Chief Operating Officer, of Aster Telehealth- India & GCC lauded the initiatives taken by the government in creating a conducive ecosystem for promoting digital health. “Digital health would help to bridge the gap in the healthcare system, and ensure both affordability and accessibility,” he added. FICCI has been working with the government and industry members, since 2012, on the building blocks for digitization, including Electronic Health Record Standards and National Health Stack.
Discussing the role of technology in the healthcare sector, Mr. Dhruv Sukhrani, Partner, Bain & Company India stated, “We have seen pre-Covid, Covid times and post-Covid times; all the 3 phases were different and health tech was born during this time. We believe that Covid has accelerated the shift towards digital models of care.” He added that from the behavioral perspective, both doctors and patients are seeing a move toward digitization.
Speaking on the ‘Cost Quality Conundrum’, Dr. Shankar Prinja, Executive Director (HP&QA), National Health Authority underscored the initiatives taken by the central government to control healthcare costs. “We have gone a long way since the time the health benefits package was first conceived under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Today we have tried developing a strong database of healthcare costs. This year we announced a new health package where we have increased the prices of 800+ packages under PMJAY,” he added.
Dr. YP Bhatia, Managing Director, Astron Hospital & Healthcare Consultant said, “I believe one subject is missing in our country, i.e. health economics. There has to be a comprehensive system through which the cost of quality can be worked on.”
Dr. Atul Kochhar, the CEO, of NABH, said, “India is getting serious about healthcare. We are a young population, and this young population spends more on healthcare. They are more aware and understand the need to invest in healthcare.”
Earlier during the day, acknowledging the rapid evolution of the healthcare sector across the globe, Dr. Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare said that India can serve the global community by strengthening the healthcare system, but for that, it needs to focus on quality.
“We are one of the youngest nations, which provides us with the opportunity to serve the global community. But to do that we need to focus on quality. We have excellent service providers and hospitals, both in the public and private sectors of the country,” added Dr. Agnani.
Mr. Lav Agarwal, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, GoI while highlighting the government initiatives on making India a global healthcare hub said, “Under Heal in India initiative, the government aims at ensuring value-based healthcare where if the patient from one country does not have treatment in their country, they can come and travel to our county and avail treatment. The Heal by India initiative talks about health workforce mobility where the Indian workforce can be a brand ambassador for India across the world.”
Sharing his thoughts on the strengthening of the healthcare workforce, Dr. Narottam Puri, Principal Advisor-QCI; Board Member & Former Chairman- NABH; Advisor- FICCI Health Services; Advisor- Medical Operations, Fortis Healthcare Ltd. said, “If the public and private sectors are to work together, the two have to find a common ground. PPPs have been happening, but we need to improve them, for that Communication is important. We need to be supportive and not critical. We need to find solutions.”
During the Session on ‘Making Cancer Care accessible and affordable, Mr. Raj Gore, Co-Chair of, the FICCI Task Force on Cancer Care and CEO, of Healthcare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG), said, “To address the dual challenge of rising incidents and sub-optimal mortality to the ratio of the incident, the country must focus on large-scale awareness campaigns on risk factors, symptoms, screening & treating options, effective prevention, alcohol, obesity, improved screening projects & avoiding unnecessary stigma attached to the disease.”
Dr. Rajendra Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai suggested that for Cervical cancer, good screening mortality either VIA or Pap smear should be good enough, but keep in mind- reducing the cost and increasing the efficacy without increasing the numbers.
Dr. Kaushal Kalra, HoD- Oncology, Safdarjung Hospital stressed the importance of making robotic-assisted surgery more affordable. “We need training for robotic surgery, new technology used in therapies costs a lot as they are newly invented medications. The lower and middle classes can’t afford it,” he said.
Expressing his views on the high cost of robotic-assisted surgery, Mr. Mandeep Singh Kumar, VP and GM, Intuitive India suggested that in 2019, IRDA included robotics surgeries in the health insurance that is also included in hospitals today. “We have also worked with insurance companies and many of them now have robotics in their coverage. We partnered with hospitals to see how we can have easy access to technology and jointly we were able to solve the problem,” he added.
The three-day FICCI HEAL 2022 organized on the theme ‘Healthcare Transformation: Driving India’s Economic Growth’ was inaugurated by Mr. Jagdeep Dhankhar, Hon’ble Vice President of India. The 14th edition of FICCI Healthcare Excellence Awards 2022 was presented by Ms. Smriti Zubin Irani, Minister of Women & Child Development and Minority Affairs, GoI. The conference also featured the da Vinci Xi surgical system of Intuitive, showcasing advanced robotic surgical technologies.
