NATHEALTH also extends support for Make in India initiative
Extending its support to PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Skill India’ Initiative, NATHEALTH organised its roundtable meeting in Delhi where reportedly, the top leaders of healthcare industry discussed the strategies to promote skill development .
Anjan Bose, Secretary General, NATHEALTH, said, “The skill gap is posing threat for country’s economic growth and limiting opportunities for employability. Currently, there is a shortfall of nearly two million doctors and four million nurses in the Indian healthcare system. The doctor-to-population ratio of India is an abysmal 0.65 per 1,000. It is also substantially lower against the WHO benchmark of 2.5 per 1,000 population. The number of Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) is inadequate, eight per cent of the centres do not have doctors or medical staff, 39 per cent do not have lab technicians and 18 per cent PHCs do not even have a pharmacist. Despite the scarcity of medical personnel, the problem of under-utilisation exists. Ironically, about 50 per cent of the existing medical workforce does not practise.”
Sushobhan Dasgupta, President, NATHEALTH, said, “Increasing the number of healthcare professionals is a top priority for the country. Healthcare as a sector is largely dependent on information and manpower. Improvement and advances only in medical technology is insufficient for improving the quality of service delivery. Skillset of doctors and other healthcare professionals is not being continuously enhanced and utilised. It is a collective onus of medical institutions, professional set-ups, industry bodies, government agencies and health technology suppliers including e-retailers to become an active part of skill and talent development in Indian healthcare.
The total skill gap is approximately 97.9 per cent across various health workforce categories, according to the findings in a study by Public Health Foundation of India for Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Radiography and imaging alone account for 88.7 per cent of this gap amounting to a huge shortage of medical laboratory technicians”
Bose further commented, “The biggest paradox in Indian healthcare is its very large differences in deliverables. On the one hand, we have some of the ‘best in class’ healthcare delivery systems which can even attract medical tourists from all over the world, largely because of the lower costs involved… On the other hand there is a huge demand-supply gap in making quality healthcare accessible and affordable to the masses. ‘Make in India’ should result in many benefits for both healthcare sector/industry as well as citizens of India. Past studies have revealed that around 30-35 per cent of cost of healthcare delivery is towards technology. Therefore any cost reduction due to local innovation/manufacturing should translate into lower cost of delivery and therefore increase affordability and accessibility.”
He also emphasised, “India still imports around 80 per cent of its medical technology. With judicious plans and efficient implementation, the private sector and government need to work hand in hand as one collaborative team to make further progress and make India one of the global hubs of innovation and manufacturing in healthcare particularly medical technology. We can also learn from the models adopted by other countries successful in this area. Ireland is an example and our PM visited the country recently.”
Dasgupta said, “Supporting the Government’s initiative of Make in India Campaign, NATHEALTH (Healthcare Federation of India) has started working on a concept note on ‘Make in India in Healthcare/ Medical Technology’. Make in India is an excellent concept. However at first, demand has to be created in order to build ‘economies of scale’ which will justify investments for local innovation and manufacturing. It will also take some time. Medical technology and diagnostic services could be two areas of consideration. Demand will be the basis of making choices for such local manufacturing. India already manufacturers many medical products like surgical sutures, diagnostic X-ray machines, ECG machines, ultrasound, some internal devices etc. A demand-supply gap matrix will create the roadmap for the needed focus areas.”
Bose further pointed out that creating an overall supportive ecosystem for medical technology innovation can help promote domestic manufacturing in India and result in lowering of healthcare delivery cost.