Opportunities and Growth: COVID and Post COVID-19 Part I

Healthcare Industry:

Increasing demand for COVID testing and the race to vaccination, governments are forces re-allocating budgets to finance healthcare services and assessing the feasibility of immunity passports, mass vaccinations, infrastructure development in hospital or even at primary healthcare centres. Scaling up of contact tracing, testing, vaccination requires huge manpower enforcement as well as infrastructure assistance.

INDIA: With the COVID-19 pandemic testing even the more developed healthcare systems globally, the foundations of India’s healthcare system have naturally also been shaken. The overall response to the pandemic witnessed both the private and government sector working in tandem. The private Indian healthcare players rose to the occasion and have been providing all the support that the government needs, such as testing, isolation beds for treatment, medical staff and equipment at government COVID-19 hospitals and home healthcare.

• Medical infrastructure in Tier II and III cities: The shortfalls such as the required number of beds or the accessibility of advanced equipment that were highlighted during the worst-hit times of the pandemic are highlighting the need for a healthcare system that is ‘emergency-proof’ for such situations in the future. Hospital chains and specialty centres are coming forward to build more capacities, especially in Tier II and III cities. Numerous hospital chains have started expanding in these cities by setting up small clinics and associating with reputed local doctors. This is also aligned with government efforts to increase the number of hospital beds per thousand population and close the accessibility gap mainly in sub-urban and rural parts of the country.
• Health insurance awareness: There has been an increased awareness of health insurance products in the past few years and more people are investing in health insurance with each passing year.
• Government policies: Though planned before the pandemic, government efforts in achieving a universal health cover under ‘Health for All’ and schemes, such as Ayushman Bharat and National Digital Health Mission have sped up exponentially. These efforts to make healthcare affordable and accessible for the entire population also offer scope for private players to widen their reach and presence.
• Medical tourism: The healthcare sector in India is attractive to foreign patients because of the availability of quality services at relatively lower costs compared to countries in Western Europe or the U.S.
• Use of technology: Online consultations and technology platforms are in high demand especially in today’s times. In August 2019, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced the ‘eSanjeevani’ app, an integrated web-based telemedicine solution. It aims at making healthcare services fair by bridging the gap between urban and rural India.

            Union Budget 2021-22: The government has proposed outlay of INR2,23,846 crore for health and well-being, an increase of 137 per cent from the previous year, with INR35,000 crore earmarked for COVID-19 vaccine in the coming fiscal. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been allocated INR71,269 crore in FY2021-22, an increase of 10 per cent over previous year (INR65,012 crore). This includes the budgetary allocations to National Health Mission (INR36,577 crore), Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (INR6,400 crore), Centrally Sponsored Schemes (INR22,044 crore) and Establishment Expenditure (INR6,245 crore). Department of Health Research has been allocated INR2,663 crore, an increase of 27 per cent over previous year (INR2,100 crore). Ministry of AYUSH has been allocated INR2,970 crore, an increase of 40 per cent over previous year (INR2,122 crore). Allocation for Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) under National Health Mission stands at INR7,000 crore in FY2021-22, an increase of 16 per cent over the allocation of INR6,020 crore last year. A new allocation of INR30 crore has been made for National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) this year under the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. Apart from the INR35,000 crore announced for COVID-19 vaccination, the Made in India Pneumococcal vaccine, currently available in 5 states, will be rolled out pan-India, potentially averting 50,000 child deaths annually.

Medical Equipment Industry:

• Informatics and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions addressing workflow automation and operational analytics will witness 100 percent growth in 2020. For instance, GE Healthcare’s industry-first, FDA-cleared Critical Care Suite AI tool will help radiologists prioritize critical cases.
• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Indian telehealth markets have reached a tipping point with growth of more than 200 percent during the pandemic. Virtual consultations by healthcare professionals will become the mainstream care delivery model post-pandemic. and Europe through its cloud-based AirView platform for home care.
• By end of the pandemic The United States alone will have an excess of 100,000 ventilators, while Western Europe will purchase another 30,000 to 50,000 ventilators through the end of 2020. This uneven distribution across regions will redefine non-hospital and home critical care models, while embedded analytics systems will revive the mature monitoring devices segment post-pandemic. Resmed has launched a remote monitoring solution for ventilators in the U.S.
• Additionally, with tele health transforming care delivery and health IT enhancements in analytics and interoperability, digital health will continue to thrive at a growth rate of 7.9 percent in 2020