Supporting the government’s measures and reforms for the healthcare sector, Healthcare Federation of India-NatHealth has expressed anguish at receding attention by the stakeholders on healthcare-centric initiatives. The Federation said that receding attention on the government’s initiative is not good for the health of the nation as large investments in Indian healthcare is now on hold. The Venture Capitalists (VCs) and funding agencies seem to have adopted a policy of ‘Wait and Watch’ for any further action.

According to NatHealth, the healthcare sector needs to reinvent itself to meet the growing demand for affordable and quality healthcare service. In 2017, the government announced the much-awaited National Health Policy which aims to promote quality of care, with a focus on emerging diseases and investment in promotive and preventive healthcare.

“National Health Policy, with focus on primary, promotive and preventive healthcare, is preceded by several broader initiatives and reforms by the government. Initiatives such as Make in India, Digital India, Skill India and Start up India have tremendous potential to transform the healthcare sector. Year 2018 will be very critical and we can only empower the sector by paying adequate attention on effective implementation of the Policy and other initiatives,” Dr Arvind Lal, president, NatHealth said.

“All stakeholders including government need to work in collaborative spirit to push forward the initiatives and reforms and to accelerate the growth of the sector to meet the challenges on quality, accessibility and affordability fronts,” he added.

According to NatHealth, the government wants stronger partnership with private sector in order to achieve the goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and current spending in the sector is a major concern. Private sector can play a critical role in ensuring adequate spending in the Indian healthcare ecosystem which is already facing severe resource crunch.

“The government’s initiatives such as Make in India and Digital India, make it easy to do business in India and can be major growth drivers for the healthcare sector. However, there is an urgent need to reinforce the focus on these initiatives to leverage the benefits for the health of the nation,” said Anjan Bose, secretary general, NatHealth.

“To further improve public health and regain the investors’ sentiments, so essential for the progress of Indian Healthcare, the government needs to accelerate implementation of the National Health Policy. For example, the Policy envisages appointment of an authority to regulate, govern and monitor digital health in the country. We, at NatHealth, believe that in 2018 all stakeholders should come together to collaboratively address the challenges of the sector which is passing through a very complex phase,” Bose added.

According to NatHealth, Indian healthcare faces the unique challenge of addressing both communicable and non-communicable/lifestyle diseases. It is promising to note that the government has recognised these challenges and several initiatives, undertaken so far, aim at addressing those pain points. Public sector spending in healthcare is currently around 1.4 % of GDP and rest 3.3% comes from the private sector.

“To achieve the goals of UHC, the government would need the support of private sector at primary to tertiary care levels. The support comes in the form of large investment, new technology, innovations and quality services,” Bose added.

“Innovative partnership models are emerging in India, cutting across traditional business models, but the key challenge still remains, how to significantly reduce treatment prices while retaining optimum quality care,” Daljit Singh, senior vice president, NatHealth, said.

NatHealth calls for all healthcare stakeholders to work in positive collaborative spirit and avoid divisive noise. It also urged everyone not to let all the good work done by both Government and private sector over decades to go in vein.