Entrepreneurial Opportunityin the Healthcare Industry
Every challenge is an opportunity fora visionary. Healthcare industry in India is one area where numerousopportunities are present for entrepreneurs. Weak public health infrastructure,the scarcity of trained emergency personnel, lack of trained medical humanresource and minimal focus on preventive care are only a few challenges thatare present in the Indian healthcare industry.
At one side, these challenges aremajor threats for the country having the population of over a billion peopleand on another side, the same challenges are offering a massive opportunitiesfor entrepreneurs who are looking to make an impact in the healthcare industry.They have a chance to create some amazing success stories by launching helpfuland innovative solutions for healthcare, their keenness will also help them tofill major voids in services and care delivery.
Following are the opportunities thatevery healthcare entrepreneur should look forward to and work to solve them:
Expansion towardsthe rural population
People living in urban areas can'timagine how people are living in rural areas and what kind of situation theyare facing in their daily lives. Majority of Indian population is living inrural areas where the healthcare facilities are not as good as in urbanareas. According to some stats byNational Rural Health Mission (NHRM), the ratio of person to doctor is almost 6times lower than in urban areas. Almost 30 per cent of the rural population ofIndia has to travel for more than 40km for any medical treatment. Even most ofthe small towns of India lack the proper and quality health care services;therefore, people have to travel to major cities to avail treatments.
People who have an entrepreneurialmindset watch these problems and challenges as opportunities. Setting upclinics or hospitals in or near the rural areas and designing them to work atminimalist costs can be the change in the health care industry of India forgood. As huge hospitals are set up in major cities, now the healthcare sectorshould expand towards the rural population as maximum opportunities lie there.
Low-costhealthcare solutions
Jaipur foot, which is a cost-effectivehighly workable artificial limb, was invented in the year 1968 and this provedto be a complete game-changer product. This was an amazing life-transformingproduct for many disabled people who were unable to buy those costly artificiallegs present in the market. The same kind of innovation is required in Indianow.
In a country where less than 35 percent of the people have health insurance, most healthcare requirements fromdiagnosis to surgery are paid out of pocket. Therefore, creating and promotinghelpful innovation and cheap healthcare solutions are not just social charitybut also an awesome business opportunity to start in a country like India.Innovators can create some low-cost diagnostic kits, cheap sanitary napkins,low-cost dialysis technology and many more for rural households. Innovationlike these in the healthcare sector can boost up the country's social as wellas economic growth.
Remote carethrough telemedicine
With the help of telemedicine orremote care, now doctors can access to a large population who live in ruralareas. This will also drastically reduce the burden on district hospitals thatattends thousands of patients every day. Many entrepreneurs and independentinnovators are focusing on creating technology for telemedicine. Every hospitalshould have a telemedicine centre so that they can attend several hundredpatients at the same time. This will allow people with minor health problems toget treated without even visiting the hospital and hence more serious peoplecan be called up for personal examination. This process will drastically reducethe crowd at the hospital.
Strengthening emergencysituations
In the year 2009, the Medical Councilof India recognised emergency medicines as a separate speciality in medicalschools but the area of emergency medicine is still in a budding stage inIndia. There is a massive scarcity of emergency departments and protocols; alsothere is a shortage of nurses as well as paramedics trained in emergencies tohelp doctors in the trauma department.
Another opportunity for entrepreneursin the healthcare sector is that there are not many ambulances which areequipped with accurate emergency tools. According to stats, only 4 per cent ofthe ambulances persons are well trained and certified in India and almostone-third of all the ambulances works as a medium of transportation with noparamedical staff. Unluckily, there are no pre-hospital services present forrural and semi-urban areas and more than 30 per cent of the patients die beforethey reach a nearby hospital.
Conclusion
Every entrepreneur should look forwardto these opportunities; they can launch educational and training initiatives tofill the above-mentioned gaps and by investing in developing new and helpfulambulances with all the types of equipment can enhance the complete healthcareindustry in India.
