Astute medical device companies can leverage this opportunity to build new businesses while transforming the lives of millions of families who presently lack access to the most basic procedures. The problems are massive, and so are the proposed solutions.
India’s Healthcare Situation
Medical expenses drive many Indian families into debt, since 62 percent of all such expenses currently are paid out-of-pocket, according to World Bank data. One quarter of the world’s tuberculosis patients live in India, 95 percent of its population resides in malaria endemic areas and, each year, 1.1 million laboratory-confirmed cases of malaria are reported. But, with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO), India has eliminated polio, smallpox, and maternal and neonatal tetanus.
As of April 2018, India has 1.16 billion active mobile phone subscribers, with over 90 percent of them leapfrogging landlines. In parallel, about the same number have been assigned a unique biometric identification number, called Aadhar, more secure than the U.S. social security number. The government health plan will ride on an information technology infrastructure that will leverage these twin platforms.
