There will be a democratisation of services that can be delivered at home: Kartik Johari

Kartik Johari, vice president, Nobel Hygiene

Regarding the state of healthcare by 2030, I think we all have three broad trends to follow:

1. The “Home-Spital” concept: Rather than congregating at hospitals, there will be a democratisation of services that can be delivered at home. With notable companies in the diagnostic area already showing how this can work, we will see a jump in the number of at-home services, starting with mobile diagnosis and rehabilitation. This will also include a network of IoT devices for monitoring and analytics (eg: Dripo and Dozee).
2. Ayurveda: We have only begun to understand the vast trove of ayurvedic knowledge that we possess. Whereas, other countries (eg: Germany) have already made enormous progress on this front, using phytochemicals (concentrated plant extracts) and nutraceuticals. India will rapidly catch up, and there are a number of interesting startups already selling ayurvedic solutions, whether OTC (GreeneeeeeeCure) or specialised solutions (Gynoveda).
3. Rising spends: Our GDP per capita is at $2000. We have seen trends from China, that when this number crosses $3000 (highly likely over the next decade), there is an outsized spend on health and hygiene. While COVID-19 has certainly started up down this path, we are bound to see a lot more innovation as consumer spending increases.

We have a long, long way to go with regards to healthcare innovation. Truly, in India, the journey is just beginning.