Medical Industry Diagnosis: Triage for Health Care and New Vision for Life Sciences

If inefficiency is the path to opportunity, the future for India's health care sector may be bright. Just how close that future is varies by market segment. In the case of life sciences, its arrival could coincide with industry participants' greater willingness to accept risk, while health insurance could seize its day amid rising treatment costs. As for health care delivery's chance to shine, that could be more in the distant future, stymied by a lack of infrastructure investment and trained professionals.

Two recent conference panels, one at Wharton and the other at Harvard University, explored the state of India's health care system. Among the conclusions: Government and industry need to increase health care investment and employment and make high-quality care more affordable and available to all.

The Wharton India Economic Forum panel titled, "India's New Mandate: Addressing the Health Care Paradox," portrayed a system of contradictions. On the one hand, medical tourism is on the rise. On the other, tuberculosis seems unstoppable in certain states. "Paradox is one characterization," said Bhaven Sampat, professor of health care management at Columbia University and panel moderator. "But challenge is another. Like every rapidly developing country, India is faced with the challenge of how to manage growth with distribution, how to balance equity with efficiency, and how to ensure that as parts of the Indian health care sector enter the worldwide elite, the masses are not left behind."

 

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