Should Healthcare be free in India?

Yesterday morning I was billeted in a training session on Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats and the power of parallel thinking. Out of the blue the trainer  asked the group to discuss the topic ‘Should Healthcare be free in India? The group that discussed this had well educated professional managers and senior executives. However none of them had a background in healthcare services per se.

Many people in this group felt that healthcare services should indeed be free in the country, pretty much like roads. Those with a a legal view supported this argument by pointing out that our constitution guarantees the right to life as a fundamental right and healthcare services can not be divorced from the right to life. A gentleman in the group gave the example of NHS in the UK and said that inspite of problems, it works. Many felt that in the face abject poverty in many parts of the country, it is only right that people have access to good quality healthcare at the expense of the government.    

The Healthcare Opportunity in India

Everybody acknowledges that the healthcare industry in India has a lot going for it. Patients from across the world are looking at state of the art Indian hospitals for cheap and quality care. The doctors and the nurses are considered to be one of the best in the world, their is abundant supply of good quality medical talent, health insurance is penetrating deeper and the market is predicted to grow substantially.

A quick look at the numbers tell the story. Healthcare is presently a USD 35 bn industry and is expected to grow to USD 75 bn by 2012. A Confederation of Indian Industry report says that investments worth USD 50bn are required annually for the next 20 years to meet the growing demand. India will need 3.1 mn additional beds (presently 1.1 mn) by 2018    

Managing Swine Flu in India.

The world is all agog with the global spread of the swine flu. The outbreak first reported from Mexico has rapidly spread to the United States and Europe. Countries the world over are rushing to identify people with flu like symptoms and those who have a history of having been in Mexico or in certain parts of the United States in the recent past are being carefully screened. The airport officials have been alerted to be on the lookout for people with these symptoms and medical personnel have been stationed at the airports to screen travellers arriving from these parts of the world.

In India a person arriving from the US with flu like symptoms has been  detained and admitted in an isolation ward in a local hospital in Hyderabad. The government is busy procuring millions of Tamiflu pills and the drug manufacturers are rushing to cater to this unexpected demand. The newspapers, TV and the digital media is busy putting out stories on swine flu, highlighting the emergency measures being taken the world over to combat the resurgent rogue virus. Theories are being propounded on the impact the virus is likely to have on the economies across the world. The general refrain seems to be as if the recession was not enough, we now have to deal with a real virus running amok.