COVID-19 Pandemic has stretched and strained the healthcare system of even the most developed countries, and is expected to cause economic recession unparalleled in the recent history.

The field of healthcare in India is rapidly advancing, but due to the COVID-19 situation the gap between supply and demand for healthcare services in India, especially for public health, is has now drastically increased. The global pandemic of COVID-19 has burdened the entire healthcare market across the globe, and once things are back to normal, there will be a stronger need for innovative practices to overcome challenges faced in the healthcare sector collectively for long-term growth and sustainability.
Thought the Governments response to the COVID-19 situation has been one of the most stringent in the World, for which we are very fortunate but with the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in India, we have definitely realised the strength of our healthcare system which is fragile and lacks a great deal of infrastructure, manpower and safety for the healthcare workers.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healtcare sector is extremely substantial as we are at the front of it, the entire healthcare sector is concentrated on prevention, diagnosis, treatment and containment of COVID-19 infection and this is affecting the timely diagnosis and treatment of other chronic diseases.

With the patients facing problem in movement and fear of COVID-19 spreading across hospitals, the condition of these patients might end up worsening their condition which will in due course increase the overall burden of diseases on our healthcare system. With more focus of Government hospitals on the COVID-19 situation, the low socio-economic group patients which are highly dependent of the government set-ups for all their medical requirements are getting impacted the most including the emergency acute conditions, which would in turn influence the quality of life.
We also are seeing some major hospitals undergoing a complete / partial shut down due to identified Covid-19 positive cases among healthcare workers which is directly affecting the day to day medical care requirements.

Many small hospitals, nursing homes, private practioners are restricting the patient intake, and all this is inturn leading to increased burden across the other hospitals as they tackle more patient load with limited manpower and staff. This will have a cascading effect on the healthcare industry.

Even after the COVID-19 pandemic, the lasting effects of COVID-19 will become evident in staffing, medical and financial challenges. The impressions of this, will linger for the remainder of 2020 and may be post that as well. No one is certain of what’s yet to come, but it’s abundantly clear some hospitals and health systems across the country have been significantly impacted.

A lot of healthcare organizations have had to furlough or lay off employees, reduce physician’s salaries and cut back benefits.
The imapct could be seen across the Healtcare insurance segment as well due the impact on the the revenue cycle.

The effect of lesser planned procedures and surgeries and the cost for temporary staff and duties would lead to a huge financial trench, especially the Not-for-profit healthcare organisations like ours in areas of high COVID-19 cases will take maximum time to recover the losses.

Looking at the coming time, we are sure that it is going to be challenging but if we plan tactically with the correct gears and associates, it will positively help in driving proficiencies and recognizing revenues for the healthcare sector.

Strategies like reallocating resources, cross training will really be useful in long term. Additionally, by embracing new digital modalities will inspire people to improve self-manage non-communicable diseases.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 have raised several red flags throughout the country on both the availability of infrastructure and manpower in our healthcare system.
Thus, we not only need to strengthen these gaps but also regularly intervene and monitor them from patient safety, quality, and affordability points of view. The Government should focus on both these aspects to improve the healthcare for the nation.

There has to be a provision and a policy for innovation in healthcare, which focus on new-age companies and technologies.

Artificial intelligence will play a huge role in healthcare in future; the government should invest in improving healthcare by use of technology. Such initiatives will increase the scale of healthcare across the masses at a very affordable cost.

A stronger approach toward preventive care will help millions of Indians who are unaware about the benefits of preventive health. A scheme for people to invest in their own fitness with some incentives will help to improve the overall landscape of healthcare and fitness in India. Likewise, a new and improved system for universal emergency care is also needed throughout the country. The government should make use of technology to support the idea of providing basic life support to any individual in a situation of emergency.

The focus on affordable healthcare has to be more robust as seen in the current situation where a lot of reliance had to be on private players that the masses cannot afford. At the same time the affordable healthcare should come at quality in order to ensure more and more people avail it. Public Private Partnerships could play an important role here.

As it is rightly said investing in healthcare is investing in the growth of the nation, given the current situation and the lack of healthcare facility for the masses, the Government clearly needs to invest more for Public Health infrastructure and research.

There is a need to revisit our public health policy and come up with better solutions to ensure that there is efficient utilization of financial resources as well. There is still a huge gap between the private and public sector healthcare facilities, which needs to be addressed.
Poverty alleviation schemes in the metros and cities are also much needed as the cluster of slums becomes a huge hurdle in public health of the nation. Our human resources both medical and paramedical for public health are inadequate as well, there is a strong need to invest more in the training centers and better incentives for the public healthcare workforce.

In the current situation of Covid-19 we are learning a lot about the strengths and weakness of our system in addressing public health concerns, these learning’s should be utilized to amend our public health policies and plan the budgets accordingly. One such weakness, which has come forward in the current situation, is our surveillance capacity for natural disasters. The Government definitely needs to increase the investment in surveillance capacity for communicable diseases and other natural disasters as well, to lower the burden on healthcare services during such situations. This is not the first and the last pandemic our country has seen, we need more focus and vigor in the healthcare sector collectively across all the sectors with special attention for the women and children, the elderly and disabled.
On the technology front, the need of the hour is to manufacture all healthcare needs, especially biomedical equipment in India. The Made in India campaign needs to be further strengthened for healthcare.

This will help in making healthcare affordable for all, and increase job opportunities in India.

High taxes that are paid on consumables, equipment, etc., could be reduced to make healthcare more affordable for the masses. Additional subsidies to healthcare providers for utilities like power, etc., will also help to make care more affordable for the masses.
Increasing the expenditure on healthcare, and its utilization by implementing schemes efficiently, will help in increasing the health of population at large and reviving and strengthening our economy even further.

These times are tough for the nation especially the healthcare industry who is at the forefront of it. The pressure on most of us is tremendous but we must not forget working in healthcare is a privilege that we must continue to earn every day and build on the success of many predecessors.

Message for Healthcare Industry Stakeholders

My message to the industry stakeholders is that each one of us should focus on adding sustainable value to the healthcare delivery system. In addition to exceptional growth, we should look forward to sharing more stories of operational success and its impact on the community at large. We should closely work with market-led functions for medical management, stakeholder relations, data and analytics, and finance to ensure sharing of best practices, expeditious resource deployment, and reporting consistency.

I am very positive and hopeful that together we can envisage a great future for the healthcare services in our country as we re-imagine and transform healthcare together.