India Healthcare Bulletin

An initiative towards better healthcare access in India (www.indiahealthprogess.in)

EDIT-SPEAK
Innovation to Play a Key Role in Meeting Healthcare Challenges in India
India is continuously reforming its healthcare strategies in order to accommodate growing needs of the people. According to the 12th Planning Commission Report, government spends around 1.4% GDP1 on healthcare and the expenditure is likely to increase in the coming years. However, the quality of healthcare services is still poor in public facilities owing to the poor availability of physicians (doctor density is 0.6 per 1,000)1 and poor infrastructure. People are primarily dependent on private hospitals and mostly bear expenses out-of-pocket. The challenge of the healthcare industry in India, both public and private sector, is to bring forward new innovative ideas to meet goals of advancing accessible and affordable healthcare. In this months newsletter, IHP highlights innovation in healthcare. Several examples of new ideas and their benefit to the Indian healthcare system are described in the newsletter, for example, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to improve healthcare delivery, investment in technology and devices to treat unmet medical needs, and educational programs to cultivate future scientists. These are only a few of the innovative ways we are tackling the challenges in our healthcare system though there are many more successfully running projects contributing to this medical renovation. In a world where 10.4% of global GDP is spent annually on healthcare2, a domain of innovation can cut the costs drastically while increasing productivity and quality of the services. Especially in India, a liaison between stakeholders across public, private and social sectors can effectively hit the nail on its head. It is time to learn from the assemblies of innovations and projects running in the country and start a healthy discussion on what could be done to make further progress. The successes of all these innovations as well as many that have been implemented imply that access to healthcare is achievable because of the emergence of new techniques and ideas.
1. http://planningcommission.gov.in/plans/planrel/12appdrft/appraoch_12plan.pdf 2. http://www.who.int/gho/health_financing/en/

Volume 31, Issue 3 March, 2013

Special points of interest:
Innovation as the driver for healthcare industry PPP model for successful capacity building Technology helping healthcare reach larger populace

Inside this issue:

2 Private Public Partnerships improve diagnosis, treatment and education

Investing in Technology to improve health

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India Healthcare Bulletin

Public Private Partnerships Improve Diagnosis, Treatment and Education

Public Private Partnerships in Indian healthcare sector have been instrumental in addressing the healthcare concerns of the nation by ensuring quality and raising standards of the products and services. There is immense group opportunity for PPPs in India and it is expected that they will change the outlook of the healthcare system. Providing high-tech devices, qualified personnel, subsidized services and quality products, these undertakings by the Government and healthcare giants are the biggest assets to the healthcare innovation model. Introduced for development of a product, distribution of a service and education of personnel, some of these models are discussed in here. GE Healthcare, partnered with Gujarat government in 2008 to improve the condition of healthcare in the state. By making an investment of INR 350 million1, GE Healthcare set up diagnostic imaging centres including advanced CT and MRI facilities in five medical colleges (Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Jamangar) and hospitals in the state. GE Healthcare outsourced the medical equipment in government hospitals and reduced the cost of medical treatment without compromising on quality. The charges of CT scans and MRI are 40% lower in the centres1 while they also conduct free MRI scans for BPL patients in these 5 centres. Moreover, the PPP model trains students and young professionals in order to help them learn the technology and latest instruments. The pioneering venture successfully expanded access to diagnostic and screening services in Gujarat by investing in the required facilities and creating new models to provide access to equipment. This partnership is seen as an example for other state governments to undertake similar projects. supply of the patients suffering from renal failure in the state. Under the Rajiv Arogyasri Scheme, B Braun partnered with Andhra Pradesh govern-

ment in 2009 by investing INR 45 crores to set up and maintain dialysis centres in the state. The PPP was based on BOOT model Build, Own, Operate, Transfer. B Braun established 10 hemodialysis centres with 111 machines2 in the state within 250 days in cities includTo catch the reader's attention, place an interesting sentence or quote from the ing Chittoor, Guntur, Hyderabad, Kakstory here. inada, Kurnool, Srikakulam, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Warangal. The government paid for the treatment to the company and hospital on patient basis so that the services are offered free to the patient. B Braun, on the other hand, took care of the administration, infrastructure, maintenance of the machines and manpower. The PPP is still in effect and as a result, people dont have to travel 200300 kms to get the treatment in private hospitals anymore. Increasing access for renal failure patients, which are quite often sick and unable to travel, has improved both their health and quality of life.

GE Healthcare and Gujarat Government

Lack of proper diagnostic and screening centres delay the treatment of a patient. Realizing the same, global healthcare equipment manufacturer,
1. 2. 3.

B Braun and Andhra Pradesh Government

Government facilities in Andhra Pradesh had inadequate machines to bridge the gap between demand and

http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/bline/2008/08/23/stories/2008082351351900.htm http://www.bbraun.co.in/cps/rde/xchg/cw-bbraun-hi-in/hs.xsl/7334.html http://www.joshd.net/article.asp?issn=WKMP-0031;year=2013;volume=1;issue=1;spage=44;epage=47;aulast=Jain

Volume 31, Issue 3

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Moreover, Novo Nordisk is also supporting state governments to collect information relevant to Diabetes diabetic care, interventions and share knowledge on practical solutions to better understand the pandemic and implement appropriate schemes and policies. ness material. Additionally, the company will conduct diet guidance camps, provide non-communicable disease management kits and 150,000 glucose test strips free to support monitoring of diabetes. Also, they will give the government access to an internationally recognized and evidence-based disease risk and health assessment tool. Still in its initial stage, the partnership will improve patient condition and lay off the economic burden caused due to chronic diseases. Moreover, the company will assist healthcare providers in offering personalized care and support to the people by analyzing data collected during this project.

Novo Nordisk and Gujarat Government

Abbott and Puducherry Government

There are 63,013.87 people suffering from Diabetes in India1. According to the statistics, a 1,013,0571 people die every year. Government of Gujarat along with Novo Nordisk Education Foundation launched Changing Diabetes Barometer in 2011 to control the disease by raising awareness about it and improving the treatment in the state. Novo Nordisk, the innovative biopharmaceutical company, runs a global campaign, Changing Diabetes, to defeat the disease and promote universal access to diabetes care. They introduced it in Gujarat to create mass awareness, conduct screenings, improve treatments and make Gujarat free of amputations and blindness caused by the disease. From Gujarat, the campaign spread to four more states in India - Goa, Bihar, Gujarat, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh2. One of the highlights of the campaign is that it may share common elements but it has been customized to meet local needs of the people.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. http://www.idf.org/atlasmap/atlasmap

Non-communicable diseases accounted for over 50% deaths in In-

dian in 20043. More than 20% of the population has at least one chronic disease and more than 10% have more than one2. Abbott partnered with Puducherry government for three years to study and implement initiatives against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in March 2013 in order to detect non-communicable diseases like diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension or thyroid disorders and raise awareness about them. Under the PPP, they will screen 700,000 people in the union territory. Puducherry government will provide suitable infrastructure, permissions and logistics to run the project and Abbott will provide subsidized diagnostics, educational support to healthcare providers, patient aware-

New Medicines to Address Growing Disease Burdens

New ideas for healthcare delivery and technology are critical to improving our healthcare system, but so are both new medicines for diseases currently without treatments and improved treatments to provide better quality of life or compliance. Global, research-based pharmaceutical companies are making significant investments in the research and development of new medicines that will address significant unmet healthcare needs in Indian patients. For example, last year, eight pharmaceutical companies and four research institutions, working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched a groundbreaking partnership that aims to speed the discovery of essential new treatments for tuberculosis.5

http://www.joshd.net/article.asp?issn=WKMP-0031;year=2013;volume=1;issue=1;spage=44;epage=47;aulast=Jain http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/90/1/11-091041/en/ http://planningcommission.nic.in/aboutus/committee/wrkgrp12/health/WG_3_2non_communicable.pdf

IFPMA 2012 status report on pharmaceutical R&D to address diseases that disproportionately affect people in low - and middle-income countries. Available at: http://www.ifpma.org/ fileadmin/content/Publication/2013/IFPMA_R_D_Status_Report_Neglected_Conditions.pdf

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India Healthcare Bulletin

Investing in Technology to Improve Health

Superlative technology and development of new devices are making treatments cost-effective and therefore, accessible to the populace. Innovative new designs in technology and devices could strengthen the healthcare system and become the backbone of the healthcare industry. Two of these innovations are Stanford India Biodesign and Nokia Life mDiabetes. The fellows have developed the Consure, which can manage fecal incontinence that could improve the clinical outcome thereby reducing the cost of hospitalization; IntraOZ which could access intraosseous activity in long bones during emergencies letting physicians administer fluids and drugs; Relligo, a pre-hospital care device for trauma patients; Sohum, which can screen hearing defects and NeoBreathe, which can perform neonatal resuscitation with minimal training. with Arogya World to launch Nokia Life mDiabetes programme, a mobile health initiative to raise awareness about Diabetes in India in January 2012. There are more than 900 million mobile phone users in the country2. Needless to say, it was one of the best mediums to reach the people and increase consciousness about the disease. mDiabetes program was successful in bringing the problems related to diabetes in notice. It was reported that mDiabetes reached one million mobile phone users in 20133 by sending messages to phone users in 21 different languages all over the country. More than 70,000 consumers have completed the six-month program3, having received free mDiabetes alerts twice in a week.

Stanford India Biodesign

These devices are innovative, simple and efficient, bringing down the cost overall by eliminating or shortening costly hospital stays. Introducing designs like these in the Indian market could help the people avail to the Started in 2008, Stanford India services offered, enhancing their quality of life and increasing the life Biodesign (SIB) is a partnership beMore such programmes in the country tween the Design School at Stanford, expectancy in the country. can address the healthcare concerns AIIMS and IIT Delhi to train medical of the nation by helping people underdevice innovators and develop leadstand diseases, prevention, control ers in biomedical technology innovation in India. They are trained in India and treatment. and Stanford to design inexpensive, high quality devices for the Indian patient and meet the growing healthNokia Life mDiabetes care needs of the nation. As mentioned earlier, there are more Since its inception, SIB fellows have 63 million people suffering from Diadesigned 12 different devices and betes1. It could be controlled with filed for 20 provisional patents while lifestyle changes but the problem is 5 of their products are under clinical that people dont know about the trials. The students are being ex- disease. posed to medical technology at uniB-249, Supermart-1, versity level to help them achieve A Finnish mobile manufacturer, DLF Phase 4, medical excellence and build medical known for its products especially de- Gurgaon, signed for the masses, joined hands Haryana122002 technology sites.
1. 2. 3. http://www.idf.org/atlasmap/atlasmap http://www.trai.gov.in/WriteReadData/WhatsNew/Documents/PR-TSD-Sep2012.pdf http://www.arogyaworld.org/arogya-world-and-nokia-india-engage-one-million-people-forPhone: +91-124-4388851 E-mail: info@indiahealthprogress.in