India’s healthcare industry has a new strong pillar to grow and develop: ‘Surgery Tech’

Senu Sam, Founder and CEO, Mykare highlights that the healthcare market in India is being driven by a growing incidence of lifestyle diseases, rising demand for affordable healthcare delivery systems due to rising healthcare costs, technological advancements, the emergence of telemedicine, rapid health insurance penetration, and government initiatives such as e-health

In India, the healthcare industry is one of the fastest-growing sectors, with new heights reached in terms of growth and globalisation over the last decade. Hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance, and medical equipment are all part of India’s healthcare industry. The healthcare market in India is being driven by a growing incidence of lifestyle diseases, rising demand for affordable healthcare delivery systems due to rising healthcare costs, technological advancements, the emergence of telemedicine, rapid health insurance penetration, and government initiatives such as e-health.For the majority of the twentieth century, India’s insurance business was split between public and private ownership. Due to expanding coverage, services, and increased spending by both public and private entities, the business is growing at a breakneck speed.The disparity in healthcare availability in India appears to be as large as the country’s population. Indians are divided into two groups when it comes to healthcare. The middle and upper classes, who mostly live in India’s cities, have access to high-quality medical care. However, most of India’s population lives in rural areas below the poverty line and has extremely limited access to medical care. Many people rely on homeopathic or cultural remedies.Some of the most enticing growth opportunities in the Indian healthcare industry are exactly what the country requires. To begin, 70% of the Indian population lives in rural areas, where only 2 per cent of qualified medical doctors are available. Today, Indian health care is primarily focused on urban areas. It needs to be reformed through the expansion of medical infrastructure and professionals.Inpatient primary care is covered by state-sponsored or community-based health insurance schemes. Secondary/tertiary and outpatient care, on the other hand, is severely underdeveloped and in need of improvement. Third, the payment structure for insurance is virtually entirely retroactive. Beneficiaries require a plan that will cover medical costs upfront rather than paying out of pocket and waiting a long time for reimbursement. Finally, critical illness coverage for inpatient surgical treatments has been limited in India, with most settlements being one-time lump sums.

The importance of the health industry pervades the entire economy. It is vital to the nation’s well-being and prosperity, as well as a source of employment, a boost to production, and a catalyst for innovation and entrepreneurship.Every year, approximately 30 million surgical procedures are performed in India. Approximately 80-90 percent of these are secondary care surgeries, requiring a shorter hospital stay and being clinically less complicated. Patients from other countries pay approximately $6 to $7 billion in cross-border fees for surgical care and affordable treatment in India. However, they can only see the top-tier facilities in India. However, most of the facilities are in the small and medium segments, and there is a huge opportunity for distribution in this segment as well by providing visibility and technology to SME hospitals. In India, The majority of secondary surgeries are conducted in small and medium-sized hospitals, which consumers find difficult to discover and place their faith in for treating them. This segment presents an opportunity for digitally enabled business models to address this need gap.

This emerging opportunity we refer to as ‘surgery tech’. Finding and trusting the proper hospital and doctor to have the operation done, finding an advisor who can provide the right guidance while protecting privacy, dealing with insurance claims, and worrying during the procedure are some of the significant pain spots for patients during an inpatient journey.Patients receive end-to-end support to address any anxiety that may arise during the patient journey, whereas clinicians and hospitals have a better chance of being discovered by patients, resulting in higher footfalls.The majority of the estimated 30 million surgical procedures performed in India each year are performed in small and medium-sized hospitals. In such cases, patients frequently struggle to discover and place their faith.Three in four secondary care procedures are in three specialties –ophthalmology, general surgeries, and gynaecology; take place in cities other than the top 6 metro cities. In FY21, the market for secondary care surgeries is expected to be worth US$ 20 billion. The current penetration of the surgery tech player is estimated to be 0.1 percent, but it is expected to grow at a more than 100 percent CAGR over the next five years to reach 5 percent by FY26.

The field of surgery is rapidly evolving, with technological advances and due to this the concept of surgery tech was introduced making it more effective and efficient.