New research reveals key opportunities to strengthen India’s healthcare system

New research investigating the sustainability and resilience of India’s healthcare system provides critical guidance for future reforms that will help better deliver health services over the long term, whilst also being able to adapt to, learn, and recover from shocks and accumulated stresses in the future. The report was presented today at the Embassy of Sweden in the presence of key dignitaries from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and key influencers from the healthcare ecosystem followed by a deep deliberation on how private and public sectors need to jointly prioritise areas of concern that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and prepare the Indian health system to tackle crises when needed.

The independent research was conducted by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and commissioned by the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR). The PHSSR is a non-profit, multi-sector, global collaboration with a unified goal of building more sustainable and resilient health systems, which is active in over 30 countries. 

The research is grounded in a robust methodology, using a framework developed by the London School of Economics. It aims to identify the strengths, potential weaknesses, opportunities and risks of a country’s healthcare system. The framework assesses the country’s health system across seven core domains; health system governance, financing, workforce, medicines and technology, service delivery, population health, and environmental sustainability. HE Jan Thesleff, Sweden Ambassador to India said, “Health systems worldwide stand at a crucial juncture, facing shared and pressing challenges. In this context, the independent research presented by PHSSR offers a powerful platform to inspire innovative thinking and foster meaningful dialogue. By connecting global intelligence with insights from leading experts, academics, and policymakers, it enables a deeper understanding of these challenges and the formation of actionable, tailored recommendations to drive meaningful change.’’

Dr Nilanjan Ghosh, Director, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), the research organisation behind PHSSR in India said, “The PHSSR report is a landmark document designing the contours of an integrated and resilient healthcare system to combat the future health challenges. In view of the Viksit Bharat 2047, a healthy human capital is of utmost need. This necessitates a resilient and sustainable healthcare system. The report advocates a multifaceted approach involving both policy reform and private sector engagement for the avowed purpose. The recommendations are developed to guide action, and action is essential for change to happen. A collaborative approach across all health stakeholders will help to facilitate and drive forward policy implementation to future-proof health systems.”

Dr Sanjeev Panchal, Country President & Managing Director, AstraZeneca Pharma India, said, “We recognise that we cannot achieve everything alone. PHSSR is a framework where organisations around the globe can collectively support healthcare systems to expand patient access while working closely with policymakers to ensure equitable healthcare for all. We have seen some early success in access to modern ways of diagnosing Lung Cancer through technology and are hoping to expand that success across the country. The important thing is that these PHSSR findings provide us with new knowledge that informs evidence-based policy recommendations on how India’s health system can be strengthened.”

Curated in 2020, PHSSR studies healthcare systems across the globe with the aim of improving global health by building more sustainable and resilient health systems for the future. It has built a large body of work already in the field of health system sustainability and resilience and has published reports on country, cross-country, global, and disease-specific research findings, each offering robust, evidence-based recommendations for policy change.