Comprehensive healthcare in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies along with IBM has announced the recommendations for “Inclusive healthcare in India,” post its first “Face2Face” leadership forum on “Role of Private Sector for Inclusive Healthcare System” organized in Delhi.  The specific recommendations are aimed at a systemic approach to enhance healthcare system.

India and emanated from the leadership forum in Delhi that was addressed by Amar Singh, Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Health, Analjit Singh, Founder & Chairman of Max India Ltd., Shanker Annaswamy, MD - IBM India/SA and H.Sudarshan, Karuna Trust & VGKK. The delegates included Members of Parliamentary Committee on Health, policy makers, academicians and officials from the multilateral and developmental bodies (World Health Organization, Public Health Foundation of India, United States India Business Council, Ministry of Human Development etc).

1. Improve health care delivery access through PPP Model

Emphasizing the significance of public private partnership (ppp), Amar Singh, Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Health said, “In India, the public health system is yet to develop to its fullest potential. It is strategic state investment in the health system that can enable a holistic approach for health care, providing access without barriers to multi sectoral range of services that incorporate health promotion - disease prevention, diagnoses and rehabilitation.  Public-private partnership, based on mutual trust, can be effective in advancing such systems.”

According to the experts, healthcare system based on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model will definitely pave way towards ensuring better access and delivery of healthcare to masses. The recommendation in this regard was the need for public sector bodies to collaborate with private healthcare providers on areas of policy formulation, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation besides training & research. The experts also felt that the available set of guidelines, parameters and standards provided by the Indian public health standards should be extended to the private sector, complimented by an effective audit review process.

2. Develop an information-based healthcare system

Shanker Annaswamy, Managing Director, IBM/SA said that “addressing systemic problems of access, quality and cost requires data, and these data are best collected, stored, shared and analyzed using IT. The adoption of advanced, but well-established IT can significantly assist in improving the state of healthcare in India.” It was recommended that India should set its sights on developing an information-based healthcare system, within which transparent, cost-effective, high-quality solutions can be developed for specific problems. A reliable, secure, nation-wide, data network is to be built that takes into account the existing ground realities of the infrastructure and has the potential to form the backbone of a national health information infrastructure.

3.Adopt innovative approaches in primary and secondary healthcare

According to the speakers at the forum, there is considerable room to improve both the quality and quantity of care delivered in India. Although the public infrastructure is large, private care is perceived to be better, both in its availability and quality. According to Amar Singh, “the presence and response of the modern day health care system is negligible in rural areas where diseases are rampant. India spends only 0.5 percent of its GDP on health care systems in the public sector.” With the critical need to address the poor healthcare issues in the rural areas in India, an innovative approach might tackle the problems of price, quality and availability:

*Care delivered through integrated primary, secondary and tertiary facilities that are capable of tracking referrals Specialist support and laboratory services delivered remotely, through tele-medicine Non-specialist care delivered through mobile units Post surgical care delivered at home using low-cost monitoring devices, smart sensors and low to medium bandwidth communication to a tertiary hospital Community-based Rehabilitation of people with disability.

4. Educate & Empower people for better health

Citizens must make fundamental changes in attitudes and behaviors, taking responsibilities for leading a healthy life while making informed decisions regarding common health issues. Awareness campaigns to provide advisories to people on health and environmental issues should be stepped up. On the other hand, satellite based trainings can be used to enable care givers in remote locations.

5. Making health more affordable

Analjit Singh, Chairman, Max India Ltd., said “since independence, the spectrum of change in health care has gone from life saving to chronic illnesses; chronic care to prevention and wellness. What is intriguing is that while some parts of India are still in life saving segment, others are in the more chronic, need segment. And, there are parts that think about prevention and wellness. In effect, this reflects India as a continent and not a country implying that there can’t be one solution to all.” The experts recommended a two-pronged approach:

* Determine affordable, sustainable funding levels and prioritize across the hierarchy of healthcare needs, while addressing environmental and basic healthcare needs ( Eg: Discounted treatments for primary healthcare needs or Micro-finance schemes for lesser privileged)

* Lead in and encourage the development of innovative financing mechanisms to increase health insurance coverage (Eg: Community Insurance Policies)