The healthcare industry is currently at a place from where it can grow exponentially, given the right resources. The recent spike in the pace and speed of growth of healthcare can be attributed to strengthening coverage, improved quality of services, and increase in expenditure by public as well as private players. Amid this impressive progress, one industry that has emerged as a prominent game changer in the healthcare sector is diagnostics.
There is so much talk around Make in India but our focus should be design for India. Today 90 per cent of development and innovations in diagnostics are done in western markets, which need to be bought and adapted for the Indian consumer. The need of the hour is indigenous solutions created in India for problems faced by healthcare consumers in emerging markets.
We need to design for India in the country and actually manufacture anywhere. The introduction of a new test has its impact on existing diagnostic test pathways.
“By understanding the role the new test, one may identify places where disinvestment in existing diagnostics may be possible. Looking at the trend of fixing ceiling prices by NPPA in stents and knee implants, in 2019, we are expecting similar regulation in the diagnostic industry also. The industry is preparing for a possible price cap that will be applied on the routinely asked investigations,” Arunima Patel, MD,iGenetic Diagnostics, says.
