Dr Alok Khullar, CEO – Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai
The COVID-19 pandemic did to healthcare what 9/11 did to the aviation industry. Just as 9/11 redefined the core elements of aviation security, COVID-19 has acted as a cataclysmic disruption to the way health care is delivered.
Somewhere in the glitter and frills of 21st century consumerism and ecommerce, the basics had been neglected by society at large. The rude shock of realising that healthcare infrastructure globally was inadequate to handle a pandemic, brought out our vulnerability to the forefront.
The future of healthcare is going to be all about making healthcare accessible, affordable, high quality and financially sustainable.
As healthcare leaders, we have to focus on the below elements:
- Cost optimisation and efficiency at all levels without compromising on quality of care.
- Enhancing skills, knowledge and the pool of healthcare providers to enable them to provide highest level of care for their role.
- Recognising healthcare as an industry and as a priority sector thus providing preferential financing, infrastructure and taxation benefits.
- Enhancing access to high quality affordable healthcare in Tier 3, Tier 4 and rural geographies.
- Implementing Private Public Partnership with clear vertical and horizontal integration to make high quality healthcare available to a large section of the population.
- Leveraging appropriate and functional technology to improve clinical outcomes.
- Making healthcare more functional and the delivery more scalable to cater to a larger population with optimal resources.