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Report on Investment Opportunities in India’s Healthcare Sector

Posted on April 2, 2021 by admin1  575

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Recently, NITI Aayog released a Report on ‘Investment Opportunities in India’s Healthcare Sector.

  • The report outlined the range of investment opportunities in various segments of India’s healthcare sector, including hospitals, medical devices and equipment, health insurance, telemedicine, home healthcare and medical value travel.

Key Highlights

Overview of India’s healthcare sector

    • Healthcare has become one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy, in terms of both revenue and employment.
    • India’s healthcare sector has the potential to generate 27 lakh jobs in India between 2017 and 2022.
    • India’s healthcare industry has been growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of around 22% since 2016.
      • At this rate, it is expected to reach USD 372 billion in 2022.
    • The current market size for pharmaceuticals in India is $41 billion, which is expected to reach $130 billion by 2030.
    • India’s biotechnology market is expected to grow at an average growth rate of around 30% per year to reach $100 billion by 2025.

Drivers of growth for the sector

    • Several factors are driving the growth of the Indian healthcare sector, including
      • An ageing population.
      • A growing middle class
      • The rising proportion of lifestyle diseases such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, poor diet and alcohol.
        • The pandemic has also accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, including telemedicine.
      • An increased emphasis on public-private partnerships as well as accelerated adoption of digital technologies.

Investment opportunities

    • With respect to pharmaceuticals, India can boost domestic manufacturing, supported by recent Government schemes with performance-linked incentives, as part of the Atma Nirbhar Bharat initiative.
  • India’s relative cost competitiveness and availability of skilled labour are also making it an increasingly favoured destination for medical value travel.
  • Manufacturing of medical devices and equipment, expansion of diagnostic and pathology centres and miniaturized diagnostics have high growth potential.
  • Technology advancements such as AI, wearables and another mobile tech, along with the Internet of Things, also offer numerous avenues for investment.
  • In the hospital segment, the expansion of private players to Tier-II and Tier- III cities offers an attractive investment opportunity

Suggestions

    • Niti Aayog has said investors should take advantage of the conducive environment to participate in the country’s healthcare industry, which is expected to rise to $372 billion by 2022.

Steps were taken by India for improving the health sector

  • National Health Mission: The mission was launched by the Government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and the National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue till 2020.
  • Ayushman Bharat:It is a flagship scheme of the Government of India that was launched in September 2018 on the recommendations of the National Health Policy 2017 for achieving the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
    • This programme will help in meeting the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its underlying commitment.
  • National Nutrition Mission: It is the government’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
    • The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) is the nodal ministry for implementation.
  • Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY): It was announced in 2003 with the objectives of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable/ reliable tertiary healthcare services and also to augment facilities for quality medical education in the country.

National Digital Health Mission (NDHM): It aims to develop the necessary to support the integrated digital health infrastructure of the country.

  • It will bridge the existing gap amongst different stakeholders of the Healthcare ecosystem through digital highways.

Poshan Abhiyan: It is the flagship programme that aims at improving nutritional outcomes among pregnant women, lactating mothers and children by reducing the level of stunting, underweight, anaemia and low birth weight by 2022.

Challenges in Health Sector

  • Poor expenditure on the health sector i.e India spends a mere 1.13% of GDP on health.
  • India lacks affordable health care services for the marginalised sections.
  • Lack of robust public health infrastructures like hospitals, primary health centres.
  • Lack of number of Doctors and Specialists as per the population of the country.
  • Lack of awareness among the people.

Way Forward

  • More emphasis should be on quick and hassle-free delivery of medical services to the marginal section.
  • There is a need for an increase in expenditure on health so that India can improve existing facilities as well as add more of them.
  • The focus should be on healthcare infrastructure and healthcare R&D

Source :PIB

 
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