The medical director of Dr. Hedgewar Hospital, Dr. Anant Pandhare, highlights the difficulty of delivering inexpensive and easily accessible healthcare in India, a developing country home to more then 138 crore people. Many people are unable to afford high-quality healthcare, especially in rural areas where 70% of people live and 25% of them are below the poverty line. In order to guarantee that everyone has access to high-quality healthcare, which is essential for both societal advancement and economic development, Dr. Pandhare highlights the need for a robust medical infrastructure and creative solutions.
Leveraging affordability is the first step towards improving healthcare accessibility. This means increasing capacity, resolving problems more quickly, and using cutting-edge medical techniques. Achieving affordability requires modernizing operational procedures and, most importantly, maintaining morality and ethics. These crucial steps are essential to opening the door to a medical ecosystem that is more accessible and reasonably priced.
Cost-effective solutions
Affordable options, in particular telemedicine, are starting to play a major role in changing the face of healthcare. With its focus on affordability, quality, and speed, telemedicine provides patients with a streamlined and effective initial line of consultation. Technology development and easy access to data have made telemedicine more popular and brought about a big change in the way people consult. Prior to the COVID era, its use was restricted for cultural and non-scientific reasons, but the pandemic brought attention to its benefits. For COVID patients and others alike, digital consultations were invaluable. Through video or phone calls, telemedicine allows patients to receive accurate diagnoses from doctors, simulating in-person visits to clinics or hospital outpatient departments.
The medical community has acknowledged that telemedicine is a great way to support patients in need of reasonably priced care.
The National Digital Health Mission, National Health Helpline (Doctor on Call), Centre for Health Informatics, Inter-operable Health Records, and Integrated Health Information Platform are just a few of the government’s excellent initiatives that mark major progress toward ensuring that healthcare is available and affordable for everyone. These calculated actions demonstrate a dedication to taking advantage of digital innovations, streamlining the health system, and encouraging interoperability in health data. When taken as a whole, these policies have the potential to improve healthcare services’ accessibility and affordability, which will benefit public health.
The government’s support for e-health and telemedicine is a step in the right direction, but active cooperation from all parties involved is required for the widespread provision of healthcare via digital platforms. Adopting these contemporary solutions will require a collective commitment if universal healthcare via digital means is to be achieved. Seeing innovation as an investment and making sure that cutting-edge medical technology is accessible can be crucial in closing the gaps that exist in the healthcare systems of rural and urban areas. This strategy will help make the healthcare system more accessible and inclusive for all Indians.
Creating affordability
India’s healthcare system, which consists of both public and private organizations, has two distinct priorities. Primary care is the main focus of the government-run public healthcare system, which is mainly provided by a small number of primary healthcare facilities located in rural areas. On the other hand, especially in tier I and tier II cities, the private sector leads in the provision of secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care. With the government allocating more funds for programs like Aayushman Bharat – PMJAY, the private sector continues to play a major role in Indian healthcare, greatly increasing access to reasonably priced treatment through private channels. To improve healthcare affordability and accessibility across the country, more actions of this kind are imperative.
In order to achieve the common goal of giving economically disadvantaged populations access to high-quality, affordable healthcare, trained healthcare professionals are essential. More doctors and paramedical personnel are desperately needed to support this endeavor, which calls for better working conditions and a more robust educational system. It is critical to consider patients’ purchasing power, especially when it comes to medications. For many families, it is financially unaffordable to purchase many necessary medications, including medications that can save lives. In order to lessen this, there is a call for coordinated efforts to manufacture medications domestically, with assistance from the government through programs like Made in India, guaranteeing increased affordability and accessibility for everyone.
