Innovative and Cost Effective Diagnostics: The future of Healthcare

The post lunch session on day two of Bio Bangalore 2009, India's premier Biotechnology event organized by the Department of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, Vision Group on Biotechnology and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications Co, saw medical innovation n entrepreneurial experts come together to discuss ‘Cost Effective Diagnostics for India’.
 
The session was chaired by Dr.B.V.Ravi Kumar, MD, XCyton Diagnostics ltd.
 
Prof. P.V.Subba Rao from Bigtec started the session and spoke about Emerging World Diagnostics in view of lifestyle changes, Prof.Subba Rao said, “Point of care diagnostics has a major role to play as they are independent, cost effective, time saving and inexpensive.” “He stressed on the fact that we need to improve on the 5Ds of death, disease, disability, discomfort and dissatisfaction through Innovative and cost effective diagnostics.”
 
Agreeing with him, Dr.Anand Sivaraman, Sr. project leader, ReaMetrix India Pvt. Ltd. said, “The main problem of healthcare in India is that it is excessively expensive and design criteria are over-emphasized. Intensive care often becomes expensive care.” Calling for optimizing the manufacturing process, he further said, “India must move towards combining innovation and solutions and moving from illness diagnosis to wellness diagnosis.”
 
Dr. Shama Bhat, Founder, Chairman & MD, Bhat Bio-Tech India Pvt. Ltd. Said, “There exists a vast difference between the demand and supply of healthcare in India. India is home to 16% of the world’s population yet, we spend only 1% of the global expenditure on health.”
 
“The lack of hygienic conditions is the root cause for most of the diseases that affect India. He stressed on the fact that Innovation in Diagnostics should be “India’s answer to its healthcare lapses and problems”, added Dr. Bhat.
 
Dr. Sami N. Guzder, Chief Scientist, Avasthegen Ltd, concluded the session with his talk on molecular diagnostics. He said, “Molecular diagnostics will play a significant role in boosting the effectiveness of medical therapies since it diagnosis the diseases at a very early stage and thus reduce the cost quite significantly.”