KIT: Primary care centres

Strategic tools for the practising manager

Primary healthcare represents the first and most basic level of preventive and curative medical care. This level is closest to the people and mainly comprises care delivered by a general physician in an out-patient setting (without the need for hospitalisation).

The major components of primary care are doctor consultations, ambulatory care, immunisation, basic diagnostics, and retail healthcare such as pharmacy, over the counter drugs, personal medical equipment, health food, physiotherapy and so on.

This segment accounts for the biggest share (60 per cent) of healthcare delivery market, and is also the fastest growing at 15 per cent annually. Its current market size is $30 billion, which is likely to reach $200-250 billion by 2025.

 

In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest and investment in this segment by corporate players operating in the organised healthcare and even non-healthcare sectors. This has resulted in primary care being delivered in stand-alone setups, located outside a typical hospital setting and focusing on two or three service lines. The investment in such a setup offering consultations, diagnostics, and preventive care is over Rs 290 lakh.