Stress on cost-effective diagnostics

Per capita medicine cost in India is as low as Rs 220. Of this, a major chunk - about 24 per cent goes towards diagnosis, while doctor fees account for less than 15 per cent. There is a need to come up with affordable diagnostics in India so as to cater to the masses. Diagnostics companies based in Bangalore have been doing their bit towards bringing cost-effective diagnostics to the people. However, by the time the services reach the end-user, their costs shoot up.

Panelists participating at a discussion on 'Cost Effective Diagnostics for India’at Bangalore Bio 2009 on Friday felt the need "to improve on the 5Ds - death, disease, disability, discomfort and dissatisfaction through innovative and cost effective diagnostics."

P V Subba Rao from Bangalore-based diagnostics equipments firm Bigtec said the government needs to encourage innovations in the diagnostics sector. His company, Bigtec, has developed a device that can detect various diseases including dengue and chikungunya, at a low cost.

"It can even detect swine flu at 10 per cent of the cost. We are planning to write to the health ministry, government of India for support to install these devices at airports," he said. The device is a replicator of PCR machine (DNA amplifier). While a PCR machine costs about Rs 15 lakh, the device developed by Bigtec costs Rs 1 lakh. It takes at least four days for a swine-flu suspected person to get exact status report on the presence of H1N1 in the body. Because, after the screening at the airport, the blood samples have to go to either Pune (National Institute of Virology) or New Delhi (National Institute of Communicable Disease) for tests. These diagnosis tests, to be done with the help of PCR machines, cost around Rs 3000 per person. Rao says with the new device developed by his company, which performs the same functions of PCR machine, tests can be done at just Rs 300 per person. In addition, these devices are handy and portable and can be installed at airports. "Results can come out in just one hour," he said. He is looking to bring in government support and partners to commercialise the product. Shama Bhat, founder, chairman & MD, Bhat Bio-Tech India said, "There exists a vast difference between the demand and supply of healthcare in India. India is home to 16 per cent of the world’s population yet, we spend only 1 per cent of the global expenditure on health." Bhat Bio-Tech India has been marketing HIV, malaria and pregnancy test kits. Explaining how treatment costs shoot up with the involvement of 'middlemen', he said in 1998 a HIV kit, when marketed by the company cost Rs 100, but when it reached the end-user it cost Rs 200-300. In 2009, the price of the same kit was brough down to Rs 25-35 by the company. However, when it reached the end-user its cost remained as high as Rs 200-300, he said. Distributors' commissions, high transportation costs, lack of proper infrastructure and 'doctors' cuts' are some of the factors that are responsible for the high cost of diagnostics in India, felt the panelists