Healthcare Situation in India

Two critical issues with healthcare delivery in India

Accessibility

Large population base with insufficient physicians
- USA 1:350 (Physician:Patient ratio)
- China 1:1000
- But India is 1:1500 (1 physician for every 1500 patients)
With disparate population distribution, healthcare delivery necessitates large distances for patients to travel, long wait times, and inconvenient hours of operation.

Affordability

Population poverty (68% of India is rural, and half of this is below poverty line)
Health Insurance Penetration (75% of Indian population pays from their own pockets)
Government Healthcare Solutions face several operational hurdles with large population base, and hence private medical sector remains primaryhealthcare provider (70% in urban, and 63% in rural)

The facilities & care in Rural India are challenging:

Rural India has 5x less Doctors than Urban areas
- Overall India 1:1500 (Physician:Patient ratio)
- Urban India 1:500
- But Rural India is 1:2500 (1 physician for every 2500 patients)
Retaining doctors (especially Specialists) challenging in rural areas (50% posts PHC/CHC vacant for obstetricians, paediatricians, gynaecologists)
Rural beds 15 times lower than urban
31% of rural population travels 30+ km for medical care
90% of secondary/tertiary care facilities are in cities and towns

Telemedicine can significantly improve healthcare in Rural India in a cost-effective solution

Telemedicine can solve the “Accessibility” problem, by deployment of cost-effective portable/mobile clinics to widespread ruraldemographics
Optimize Government healthcare spending: Countries like the US spend 18% of their GDP in healthcare. While India spendsonly 4.2% of its GDP in healthcare, even this spend can be optimized in terms of reach and quality, with deployment ofTelemedicine Solutions
Telemedicine partially solves the critical problem of relocation of Physicians, especially Specialists, to rural healthcare centers