India's healthcare sector is among the country's biggest in terms of revenue and employment. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 percent since 2016, the sector employs 4.7 million people directly, according to the latest NITI Aayog report.
The sector comprises both private and public medical facilities. While metros have the major share of public and private hospitals, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care institutions are present in smaller towns and rural areas. Besides medical facilities, India’s healthcare sector also comprises medical devices and equipment, health insurance, clinical trials, telemedicine, and medical tourism. This World Health Day, let us look at how India is doing.
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The positives
The sector is growing at a brisk pace. This steady rise is due to the growing middle class, public-private partnerships, adoption of digital technologies, a rising proportion of lifestyle diseases, and an ageing population.
The major strengths of India's healthcare system include world-class hospitals and skilled medical professionals; low treatment costs compared to other countries; superior quality healthcare; robust ayurvedic and homoeopathic networks; and wellness services like yoga and meditation, among others.
With healthtech startups leading from the front, the e-health market is also growing in India by leaps and bounds. It is estimated to be worth $10.6 billion by 2025.
Where do we stand?
According to the Global Health Security Index of 2021, India ranks 66 out of 195 countries. After assessing several parameters, India's overall index score was calculated at 42.8. The US, given the first rank in the list, scored 75.9.
The Indian medical tourism market was valued at $2.89 billion in 2020. It is expected to reach $13.42 billion by 2026. According to India Tourism Statistics at a Glance 2020 report, an estimated 6,97,300 foreign tourists came for medical treatment in India in FY19. The medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth $5-6 billion by mid-2020, but the COVID pandemic hit its growth.
India is the fourth-largest medical devices market in Asia after Japan, China, and South Korea. The Indian medical devices market is estimated at $11 billion and is expected to grow to $50 billion by 2025, according to an IBEF report.
Shortcomings
India's advancement in healthcare is lopsided. While the private sector is largely concentrated in tier I and II cities, residents of small towns and rural areas, especially the hills, struggle to access quality healthcare facilities. Also, several public medical facilities have less-than-adequate human resources and aren't well-equipped.
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At any rate, serving a population of 1.4 billion remains a Herculean task, but a lack of medical teaching and training facilities worsens the situation. Currently, India has 1.3 hospital beds per 1,000 population, and around 65 percent of hospital beds in India cater to almost 50 percent of the population concentrated in states like Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. The other 50 percent of the country’s population has access to only 35 percent of hospital beds, according to the NITI Aayog report.
Measures
The Centre is making efforts to develop India as a hub for spiritual and wellness tourism and a global centre for Ayurveda and yoga. To attract more foreign investment, the Centre has permitted 100 percent FDI (foreign direct investment) in greenfield projects and 74 percent in brownfield projects in the pharmaceutical sector.
Significantly, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has catalysed the adoption of telemedicine and changed people's outlook on personal health and hygiene, health insurance, health monitoring, fitness and nutrition, and medical check-ups.
The Centre's flagship initiative -- Ayushman Bharat -- comprehensively strengthens the health system from the primary level to tertiary care. Under the scheme, drugs and diagnostic services are provided free of cost.
The government aims to increase healthcare spending to 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2025. In Budget 2021, India’s public expenditure on healthcare was 1.2 percent of the GDP.
