The healthcare sector is a dynamic industry that offers significant opportunities. But currently, at a global level, the healthcare sector is fraught with uncertainties, cost concerns, and complexities. There is a scope of substantial gain for players who will be able to deliver value-creating solutions that will thrive through this uncertainty. The intrinsic demand for healthcare services is rising all over the world with factors like technological developments slowly shaping the healthcare sector of the future. Advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and big data are becoming key drivers of technological growth in the healthcare sector.

In India, healthcare is one of the largest sectors—in terms of revenue and employment. Healthcare comprises of hospitals, clinical trials, medical devices, medical tourism, telemedicine, and healthcare insurance. The Indian healthcare sector is rising uphill because of its wide coverage, improved services and increasing expenditure by public and private players. In India, the healthcare delivery system is divided into two categories—private and public. Public healthcare is under the government with limited secondary and tertiary care institutions in urban areas. The public sector functions more robustly in rural areas through primary healthcare centers (PHC). The private sector is majorly concentrated in metro cities and provide tertiary and quaternary care.

Market size, government initiatives and investment in Indian healthcare

The Indian healthcare sector is forecast to increase three times and become $8.6 trillion by 2022. Currently, there is 20-25% growth in medical tourism in India every year. As the GDP is rising in India, there is an enhanced scope of the healthcare sector improving too. A marked rise in the government’s spending in the healthcare sector is seen from FY14 (1.2% of the GDP) to FY18 (1.8% of the GDP). By 2025 the government plans to increase public health spending to 2.5% of the GDP.

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There has been quite a few Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the hospital and diagnostic centers in India. Investments worth USD 6 billion has flooded the Indian healthcare market between April 2000 and December 2018. There has been 23 deals worth USD 679 million in the first half of 2018. India and Cuba have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to increase cooperation in the areas of health and medicine, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India.

The government too has taken some steps to secure the future of the healthcare sector in India. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna was launched by the government in September 2018 to provide health insurance worth $717 to over 100 million families. In the same year, the government also approved the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission as a centrally sponsored scheme contributed by both center and state government.

The path ahead

In India the healthcare sector is filled with many opportunities, especially for players in the medical devices industry. India has one of the fastest growing healthcare industries in the world (it is expected to reach USD 280 billion by 2020). The country is now innovating with artificial intelligence and offers high-end diagnostic services. The best part is there is both foreign as well as national investments for advanced diagnostic facilities. This will help to cater to the wider population in both rural and urban India.

Along with advancements in healthcare services, even the consciousness among consumers towards healthcare upkeep has risen significantly. The diverse nature of the Indian healthcare sector makes it filled with opportunities for providers, payers and medical technology. Businesses are looking forward to making the most out of the latest global trends in the healthcare sector.

Conclusion

The healthcare sector both in India and globally are going through many changes, but that does not stop it from making the most of the opportunities that lie beneath the uncertainties. Being able to make the most of these opportunities will pave new paths and redefine new possibilities in the healthcare sector.

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