The healthcare industry is a fast growing sector that is rapidly expanding when it comes to providing employment and generating revenue.The Indian healthcare sector is growing at a brisk pace due to its strengthening coverage, services and increasing expenditure by public as well private players.Perhaps, the biggest reason for why the healthcare industry in India today is making such big leaps is the foreign direct investment we receive from international healthcare service providers. India offers a comparative cost to these companies that is far more competitive than its peers within the Asian continent.
Challenges faced
Deloitte has predicted that with increased digital adoption, the Indian healthcare market, which is worth around US$ 100 billion, will likely grow at a CAGR of 23 per cent to US$ 280 billion by 2020.There is a significant scope for enhancing healthcare services considering that healthcare spending as a percentage GDP is rising. Rural India, which accounts for over 70 per cent of the population, is set to emerge as a potential demand source. A key challenge is the inequality in healthcare access and the difference in healthcare outcomes across states in India. Affordability is yet another challenge that we need to overcome in order to ensure better healthcare outcomes for both rural and urban India. According to a report by the United Nations, 75% of the health infrastructure in India including doctors and specialists and other health resources, is concentrated in urban areas where only 27percent of India’s population lives. What can be done to bridge this divide? How can people be motivated to take their health in their own hands? These questions need both the public and private sector to come together to discuss core issues that the industry is currently facing. However, the emergence of health-tech companies has started to create significant waves in the healthcare space. Many of these companies were founded to address key issues within the industry and to provide seamless healthcare options to the Indian population.
Filling the gap
Take for instance – Modasta. Most of us at some point or the other have perused the internet for information on ailments or symptoms that we are facing, to get greater clarity on our health issues before heading to a doctor. The lack of credible and trusted India-centric health content applicable to not only urban but also rural India was lacking. We saw a definite gap in the market and hence started Modasta to offer Indian health-seekers, who were earlier compelled to browse international health portals like WebMD and Mayo Clinic, with their own India centric platform as their first point of reference. The platform, which already has over 1.5 million registered users in first six months of their launch, offers multi-lingual and credible health content curated by Indian doctors for the Indian health-seeker. The platform provides content in English, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil, and there are plans on the anvil to extend the into three more languages in near future. Modasta, not only provides easy to access content in the format of articles and videos, but also offers health forums to exchange knowledge and experiences.As the first of its kind initiative in India, Modasta will service the length and breadth of the country with pertinent content on a plethora of subjects from lifestyle diseases, mental health, women’s health, men’s health, sexual health and paediatrics amongst others.
Given the success of the initiative, Modasta has also expanded to include telehealth comprising online doctor consultation services, thus becoming the first holistic healthcare service provider for health-seekers across India. This is an important service as it connects patients to doctors if they are unable to access quality healthcare in their local area or if they want to use the services of a specialist doctor that is geographically not convenient to them. We endeavour to become the first ever one stop shop for health-seekers, something which no other health-tech company has managed to achieve to date in this space.
Although the healthcare industry in India is not without its challenges, the opportunities that the sector provides are vast and manifold. This is reflected in the fact that India attracts significant international investment and has seen a rise in the number of healthcare start-ups that are mushrooming in recent times. As far as the healthcare industry in India is concerned – the future looks bright!
