India's healthcare ecosystem undergoing change: KPMG India co-head

KPMG-FICCI study suggests more than 20 new healthcare models emerging in India

India’s healthcare ecosystem is undergoing a change in terms of connectivity and accessibility to rural and previously untouched areas, Lalit Mistry, partner and co-head, Healthcare Sector, KPMG India said at the FICCI HEAL conference last week.

More than 20 new kinds of healthcare models have emerged in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report on new-age healthcare delivery models in India released by KPMG in collaboration with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

“The increased awareness of self-care, bolstered by easy access to information technology, lays a foundation for preventive measures and early interventions. This, along with the advent of telemedicine, has provided for a paradigm shift in how the healthcare sector is seen in India,” Mistry said.

The new models include increased use of healthcare aggregators, non-invasive wellness monitoring, and remote health management. Some prominent examples include Tata 1mg, Practo, and calorie counts done by the Fitbit Tracker.

The report also suggests that newer models are appearing in hospital care as well, with small healthcare organisations (SHCO) such as Apollo’s Cradle hospitals and Fortis La Femme being prime examples. These single-speciality hospitals focus on just one segment with more emphasis on personalised services.

According to the study, India is undergoing an epidemiological transition with a rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD), with the death rate due to NCDs increasing from 35.9 per cent in 1990 to 64.9 per cent in 2019.

The figure is in line with concerns over the rising NCD burden in India, which has led to the renaming of the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) to a combined National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) by the central government.

The report also referenced Oxfam’s India Inequality Report, pointing out a rural-urban disparity in accessibility to healthcare. The data suggests that 70 per cent of India’s population is rural, but only 40 per cent of total beds available are present in rural areas.

On the question of tackling this disparity, Mistry said that the gains in telemedicine and connectivity have made it easier for rural health centres to adopt new models of healthcare. Electronic Intensive Care Units (eICU) is one of the ideas that can be used where patient monitoring can be done in both rural and urban areas.