Around the world governments have realised that the economic growth of a country cannot be achieved without healthier citizens and a disease-free society. India’s phenomenal economic growth in the last decade has improved overall health standards in the country. Despite making significant improvements in health outcomes such as lowering of infant mortality rate (IMR) and maternal mortality rates (MMR), and polio eradication, the country continues to suffer from inequities and inefficiencies.
The private sector in the country’s healthcare landscape is now assuming the centre stage. Private health spending is significantly higher than the government allocation on healthcare. This has resulted in the exponential growth of private health facilities both in metros and Tier II towns. With recent advancement in treatment and technologies, acquiring the best medical talent, the cost of healthcare has increased spirally.
The need of the hour is to identify and strengthen the support pillars of healthcare delivery systems. These may include production of quality manpower, technology-enabled solutions like mobile health and adoption of low-cost drugs and vaccines. While some models are already in place, the scale at which they can be utilised needs to be explored. Going forward, the action agenda is to foster a multi-stakeholder collaborative approach with a common objective of providing healthcare to masses. The government may leverage the private sector for strengthening secondary and tertiary care levels. To achieve this, we need to break barriers and think beyond the traditional approaches and implement innovative solutions in the Indian health system.