1. As Chairman of the CII Hospital Tech 2024 Western Region, what aspects would you like to highlight in the upcoming 7th Edition of CII Hospital Tech 2024 Western Region, due on Sept 30- Oct 1 in Mumbai? How is this year ‘s event better than or different from the previous year’s event?
This is the 7th edition of CII Hospital Tech. In the first edition, we started by keeping in mind a very large horizon in terms of how technology can benefit the healthcare delivery ecosystem. But slowly and steadily, we have started reaching out to multiple niche areas. And this year we have included a focus on areas which are very related to the clinical side. So we have topics like antimicrobial resistance (AMR), gene therapy, CAR T-cell therapy and multiple areas like this. Nevertheless, conventional AI, other technologies have also been addressed.
One of the very important areas, keeping our Prime Minister Modi’s vision in mind, is that India has to become carbon neutral by 2070. So we have sessions on sustainability. And we have connected with experts in this field to run this so that all stakeholders from the healthcare industry can benefit from CII Hospital Tech 2024. As in previous editions, this year we have a few country partners and they are also going to contribute immensely in terms of meeting our event objective.
2. Could you expand on the country partners and what are they adding to the discussions?
Our country partners include the UK, New South Wales, and the Netherlands. We are expecting to get confirmation from Sweden as well as a country partner. The UK, Israel, Netherlands all have done extremely well in medical technology.
As a precursor to this event, around 67 startups and technology providers connected in July for an online session with Indian hospitals and healthcare providers. And similarly we have had sessions a few months back with a UK delegation hosted by CII. We are expecting a similar kind of enthusiasm and involvement to happen during this year’s Hospital Tech event.
Similarly the Netherlands is now promoting their healthcare technology in India. So they have partnered with us to bring some of their technology during this event.
Business Sweden launched an amalgamation of Indian and Swedish companies called Alliance three months back in April in Delhi. This too will be showcased at CII Hospital Tech 2024. Our focus this year remains searching for mutual benefit.
3. What do you feel the Government of India can do on this front? This year’s Union Budget was disappointing. Do you feel that there is enough support and funding from the government for the private sector?
You have touched upon a very important thing, which is like a very sensitive area. To begin with, when you ask how the government is encouraging and supporting the healthcare sector, I must say with the Make in India initiative and the support for the startup ecosystem, the Government has supported a lot in a way that we have not seen earlier, during at least my professional career. I think that is very encouraging.
Nevertheless, the disappointment is about not giving some sops directly for hospitals or for investment. But I think earlier budgets did extend this kind of support. So we can’t expect that we’ll get what we want every time. Ultimately the country also needs to be managed by the Government with the available funds.
I had earlier mentioned CAR T-cell therapy, gene therapies and other technologies. Policies are coming up (to promote) AI/ML. These technologies (CAR T-cell therapy, gene therapies, etc) were pretty new 2-3 years back, but today I can tell you its application, especially in healthcare, is still not very widespread. There are few early adopters, but it is not widespread. At the CII Hospital Tech 2024, we are trying to get the Government on board to see how this can be taken further forward in coming days.
This event has been designed and coined keeping in mind everyone’s requirements and expectations. So while you go through the event sessions, you will see the sessions and speakers have been identified and are definitely going to add a lot of value because they’re the experts in the segment.
Secondly, we also have the Healthcare awards, where we recognise excellence in multiple categories where either an individual or an organisation has shown excellence in their field. We made a jury, who after careful consideration will give them awards during the event. So the purpose of doing this is to encourage people to showcase, to come out and talk about their best practices which can be adopted by others in the future. Thirdly, we are already getting international collaborations as well as government collaborations in place. So it will be a free flow of discussions, with no barriers or restrictions in anybody ‘s mind.