- Valedictory address by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister
- Path-breaking partnerships with SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Financing Facility, Duke University and TIE to design solutions and accelerate innovations in healthcare
- NATHEALTH Patient Confidence Study in collaboration with IQVIA released
Covid-19 unleashed an unprecedented health crisis that disrupted healthcare ecosystems around the world. The outbreak’s impact highlighted several critical and structural gaps in the Indian healthcare system too. However, strong collaboration between the public and private healthcare sector proved to be beneficial in identifying solutions and in implementing the world’s largest vaccination programme.
Therefore, as India’s unified voice dedicated to improving access and quality of healthcare for all, NATHEALTH held its 7th Annual Summit on the theme of ‘Indian Health System Expansion in Post-COVID Era'. The objectives of the summit included highlighting the acute need for greater engagement, increased investments, building skilled workforce and new talent pool, planning essential infrastructure, harnessing technology and improving access.
Delivering the valedictory address, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister, Health and Family Welfare, Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and Chairman, WHO Executive Board, along with many other senior industry leaders and government representatives called for greater collaboration and engagement amongst stakeholders to make Indian healthcare ecosystem self-reliant. The Summit witnessed several highlights, which included agreements amongst varied partners to meet the needs of a new India via digital technology, innovation and scale up models:
- MoU with Duke University on building vaccine confidence, fostering innovation across health systems through collaboration and partnerships
- Collaboration with SAMRIDH Blended Health Finance and IPE Global to scale up innovation
- TIE Mumbai partnership on accessing, sourcing, curating and identifying high-potential and high growth start-ups
- Release of NATHEALTH Patient Confidence Study by iQVIA around patient sentiment and need to enhance access to healthcare post-pandemic
- India Africa Health Summit Report – steps initiated around South-South collaboration (India for the rest of the world)
- Special session on financing the silver economy on senior care
Hon’ble Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, shared, “It is a pleasure to be a part of the NATHEALTH 7th Annual Summit. In this year’s union budget, health has been identified as one of the six main pillars to drive growth. A holistic approach towards health and wellbeing has been adopted with an enormous financial allocation of 2,23,846 crore. Budget allocation for the health sector in 2021 has been gradually raised to 1.8% of GDP, as compared to 1.2% of GDP in 2014. The objective of increasing Government expenditure in the health sector is to drastically decrease the proportion of households facing catastrophic health expenditure. Establishing modern healthcare institutions, creating necessary infrastructure and providing skilled manpower to run these institutions will require funding, policy support and coordinated efforts by all stakeholders. As impressive as our fight against COVID has been, we need to do more in terms of our preparedness and strengthening the resilience of our healthcare systems. I am hopeful that the 7th NATHEALTH Annual Summit will help bring more synergy and active cooperation between public healthcare institutions and private healthcare organisations and together we will be able to provide holistic healthcare to the people of India at an affordable cost.”
The Summit witnessed amalgamation of representatives from the Government of India, leaders from hospitals, medical technology and diagnostics sectors, insurance, medical education, pharmaceuticals, global multi-stakeholder organizations, start-ups and investors. The Summit focussed on 5 critical and most relevant themes of current times led by top Indian healthcare leaders. In the inaugural session led by Ms Preetha Reddy, President NATHEALTH & Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals, she shed light on the need to streamline investments in health sector to plug existing infrastructural gaps. Eminent speakers of the second session led by Dr Harsh Mahajan, Mahajan Imaging, focused on financing of healthcare and how PPP model will help accelerate in achieving Universal Health Coverage. The third session placed emphasis on how India can leverage innovation and technology to improve access and quality of care and it was led by Dr Shravan Subramanyam, GE Healthcare; Fourth session led by Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Fortis Healthcare, focused on the need of developing healthcare infrastructure over the next 5 years for India and Bharat, and the fifth, again by Ms Preetha Reddy brought together leading healthcare experts to discuss how PPP can be the game changer to bridge the demand supply gap in skilling.
Speaking about the summit, Ms. Preetha Reddy, President NATHEALTH and Executive Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals said, “It was a privilege for us to host this high-impact two-day virtual 7th Annual Summit of NATHEALTH. Unlocking Investments and effective collaboration between the public and private healthcare sector are of utmost importance to strengthen our existing healthcare ecosystem. In the last few years, we have seen India taking some giant steps towards positive change and the pandemic is a great example of our exemplary capabilities in dealing with healthcare emergencies and also finding solutions that would work for India and help us serve people around the world. India has been a land of opportunities for everyone and the path for India to become a 21st century modern healthcare service delivery provider has been set. As NATHEALTH stays committed to its core mission of bringing the entire healthcare voice into one platform, we are hopeful that, healthcare sector in India will attract more investments from public and private sector in the coming years, which not only make healthcare affordable and accessible but will also pave the pathway for self-reliance.”
Sharing his thoughts about the summit, Dr Harsh Mahajan, Vice President, NATHEALTH and Founder and Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging said, “Despite numerous challenges, India has been able to expand its bandwidth and display exemplary leadership to respond to medical emergencies. Despite economic shocks faced by the healthcare sector, private and public partners worked together to make India a global leader in testing, tracing, treatment, and vaccines. Collaborative efforts helped us to set up required infrastructure to develop effective solutions. As we reimagine the capacities of our healthcare ecosystem today, The Nathealth summit is the right platform to engage and develop new models to strengthen healthcare services across the globe.”
Through this Summit, NATHEALTH as a unified voice of the healthcare ecosystem, has placed the spotlight on progressive partnerships between public and private sectors to drive a stronger healthcare narrative and achieving impeccable delivery of a modern healthcare system that is truly ‘Atmanirbhar’. The annual event provided a platform to public health professionals, healthcare providers, Government representatives, policymakers, domain experts, academia, start-ups and incubators, leaders from the public and private healthcare sectors. It unfolded approaches and strategies to leverage the extraordinary potential of the Indian healthcare sector, to attract investments needed to build a contemporary 21st-century universal healthcare delivery model that delivers affordable excellence. The summit addressed challenges caused by COVID-19 and the long-standing reforms required to ensure last-mile delivery of healthcare services in India. It also unlocked potential opportunities for businesses to network, collaborate through industry tie-ups on corporate partnerships and exploration of new business leads.
