Datanomics: India's health spending tilts towards private hospitals

Nearly $10 billion in global private equity has flowed into Indian hospital chains in five years, underscoring the growing role of private healthcare in meeting demand

Global investors such as Blackstone, KKR, General Atlantic, and TPG have poured nearly $10 billion into Indian hospital chains over the last five years, according to a latest report. This signifies the importance of private hospitals in the healthcare sector. Health expenditure from domestic private sources—including out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE), insurance premiums, and corporations' spending—has remained higher than that from either state governments or the Centre. Public hospitals’ share of total OOPE fell from 7.4 per cent in financial year 2014-15 (FY15) to 4.1 per cent in FY18. Private hospitals' share in total OOPE rose from 28 per cent in FY15 to 34 per cent in FY18, then slipped slightly to 33 per cent in FY23. Government hospitals have declined in number, while public health centres have gradually increased. Consequently, population per government hospital and health centres fell from 6,184 in 2017 to 5,345 in 2021, but rose again to 5,839 in 2022.