A policy meeting under the aegis of Voice of Healthcare was held at The Hotel Lalit New Delhi , on 26th June 2019 to bring together various stakeholders from health care industry sector to discuss on challenges faced in the current scenario and identify avenues for ironing out the issues and present the report to Govt. for consideration and implementation.
The meeting was convened by VoH Chairman Dr. Naveen Nishchal, Co-chaired by Dr Harsh Mahajan, Director of Mahajan Diagnostics and Moderated by Mr Sanjay Jha, Co-founder Collateral Medical Pvt Ltd.

The policy meet , lasted for over two and a half hours , had a balanced representation from noted think tanks of all diaspora- Payers Providers, Med Tech, Pharma, Diagnostics, Startups, Policy Experts, Investors and Healthcare Consultants.

The dignitaries who attended the meet were- Mr Rishi Suri- Director Deloitte India, Dr Arjun Dang- Associate Lab Director of Dr Dangs Lab, Mr Atantra Dasgupta- Director, South West Asia Head For Samsung HME, Dr Ravi Gaur- COO Oncquest Labs, Mr Rajiv Nath- MD HMD And Forum Coordinator Aimed, Mr DC Jain- CMD Akums Pharmaceuticals, Dr Vidur Mahajan- Head of Research at CARING and Associate Director at Mahajan Imaging, Mr Vikram Anand- Director Capbuild Clinical Skills, Mr Vishal Gandhi-Managing Partner And CEO, Biorx Ventures Advisors, Mr Anjan Bose- Founding Secy General NATHEALTH, Mr Pradeep Lal Mehta- President of Association Of Hospitals Of Eastern India, Ms Ruma Banerjee- VP Projects & Business Operations of Neotia Healthcare, Mr Abhitab Gupta- CEO Paramount TPA, Mr Gaurav Malhotra – MD Medicover Healthcare Pvt Ltd and Mr Vikram Goel- Co-founder Incredible devices, Anwesha Pandey- Director NATHEALTH, Mr Navin Sharma- Director Government affairs at Baxter

Varied topics, relatable to the nations present healthcare scenario and addressing the issues and challenges being faced by all the verticals and stakeholders of the healthcare industry was touched upon. The topics were – accessibility and affordability of healthcare on the shadow of Ayushman Bharat, Industry recognition, responsible accreditations and certifications, government encouragement to Startups, private-public collaborations, advances in technology and logistics and its usage to strengthen primary healthcare, penetration of super speciality services to the tier-II and Tier III cities using Artificial Intelligence etc.

Speaking at the meet, Dr Harsh Mahajan suggested developing India’s own National Health Stack to drastically improve patient outcomes. Widely known as a strong advocate of government policies, Dr Harsh Mahajan applauded the initiative of VoH for doing its bit towards active participation in the reformation of healthcare delivery system and not limiting itself to standing on the sideline and pointing fingers at the regulatory affairs. He also expressed his concern towards ‘Anti Private Sentiment’ breeding deep among all quarters of people across India which is not going to benefit the healthcare scenario in the long run.

Dr Naveen Nishchal deliberated and strongly backed the role of the technology in the accessibility of healthcare. He said, “Given the size of the population that our country has and owing to the ever declining doctor to patient ratio, it seems a distant dream that superspecialist services can ever reach the doorstep of rural India. Only Technology has the power to address this major issue of accessibility and affordability. Hence AI, ML, IoT has a big role to play in the near future.”

Mr Sanjay Jha, who was moderating the meet emphasized upon Implementation of regulatory mechanism keeping patient safety in view while adopting a balanced/rational approach to support MedTech companies progress.

Soon the valuable suggestions and revolutionary ideas to transform healthcare scenario will be tabled with appropriate Government authorities like NHA, NITI AAYOG, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, IRDA, CDSCO, QCI etc at the center as well as state level. VoH hopes the government will give it due importance and include the concerns in the collaborative and constructive framework.