Healthcare Services Industry – India
The last decade has been witness to the giant strides taken by the Indian healthcare scenario, towards modernization and development- gone are the days when those who could afford it had to travel abroad to get highly specialized services such as cardiac surgery, while others had to do without it.
Today, patients from the developed Western nations are coming to India to receive specialized medical treatment. Not only is India meeting international standards, but at prices that compare very favorably with developed countries.
In India, healthcare is delivered through both the public healthcare system and the private sector. The public healthcare system consists of healthcare facilities run by the central and state governments, which provide services free of cost or at subsidized rates to low-income families in rural and urban areas. In the private sector, healthcare facilities are owned and run by for-profit companies and non-profit or charitable organizations.
In the earlier era, the high custom duties imposed by the government on imported medical equipment was a big deterrent to set up private hospitals offering specialised medical care using state of the art equipment, usually imported from abroad. As a result, there were very few privately run large hospitals but there were many small private practitioners who provided primary and secondary care.
The low level of medical insurance was another major problem faced by the private hospitals – not having insurance meant that the patients had to pay for the treatment from their own pockets and not everyone could afford the high costs of private healthcare.
The rise in the levels of awareness has led to a surge in the medically insured nos. and now the people want nothing but the best medical care. The innovations whether in business models, in marketing & promotion or in the use of technology, have created unique experiences for patients.
