Articles 1 to 10 of 31
Can New Delivery Models Help Fix India's Health Care Woes?
The statistics tell a stark tale: India's population is 1.2 billion and growing. The country has a GDP of US$1.85 trillion but health care spending is only about 5% of that. India's nine hospital beds per 10,000 people are far from adequate. Although much attention is focused on infectious diseases like malaria or HIV, incidences of chronic or "lifestyle" ailments such as diabetes and heart disease are growing. At the recent Wharton India Economic Forum held in Philadelphia, a panel of experts discussed various models for the country to capitalize on its own innovation and expertise to deliver affordable care to those most in need.
Mobile Medical Vans: Overcoming India's Last-mile Health Care Challenges
Some 700 million people live in India's 636,000 villages, which have only 23,000 primary health care centers among them. The Wockhardt Foundation has started Mobile 1000, an initiative to provide free primary health care to remote regions in rural India using mobile medical vans. So far, it's working. But can it be scaled up?
Family Physicians Make a Comeback in India
Primary health care in India has been a rather neglected sector, suffering from poor quality and low service levels in many areas. As a result, patients tend to go to large hospitals for even the most basic health care needs, a practice that leads to unnecessary medical interventions and also higher medical spending. A new breed of entrepreneurs is now looking to revive the concept of the family physician in the country. The biggest challenge they face is attracting good doctors and the ability to scale their operations.
LifeSpring Hospitals: Providing Affordable, Quality Maternity Care to India’s Middle Class
India accounts for around 20% of maternal deaths worldwide. It has also failed to achieve its goal of reducing its infant mortality rate to 28 per 1,000 live births by 2012. A recent study says that the country will not reach this target until the end of 2016. There is urgent need for affordable and quality maternity and infant care in the country. LifeSpring, a chain of maternity hospitals, is looking to address this need. But it has challenges by way of attracting capital and management.
Using Innovative, Low-cost Solutions to Provide Safe Drinking Water in India
Safe drinking water is a precious commodity in India. According to a recent report released by UNICEF and the World Health Organization, 97 million people in India don’t have access to an acceptable drinking water source. The 2011 census estimates that over 50% of the households in India don’t have access to drinking water in their homes. Nonprofit group WaterHealth is trying to address this need with its innovative and low-cost solution.
Sparring Over Sorafenib: How Will Natco’s Move against Bayer Affect Pharma Licensing?
Multinational pharmaceutical companies are closely following India's recent grant of a "compulsory license" to Indian mid-sized firm Natco Pharma. This license allows Natco to make sorafenib, a low-cost version of Bayer's patented cancer drug, Nexavar. The Indian government maintains that the initiative, which awards licenses based on circumstances including a drug's affordability and accessibility, is compliant with the World Trade Organization's intellectual property rules. But experts at Wharton and elsewhere say questions persist over the impact of such licensing.
Can Telemedicine Alleviate India's Health Care Problems?
India's record in health care is dismal: A vast majority of its population does not have access to quality and affordable treatment. Experts believe that with developments in technology, telemedicine could be one possible solution to lessen this problem. India could also provide telemedicine solutions for the world. But observers also caution that telemedicine is still very nascent in the country and the right ecosystem has to be developed for it to show significant results.
Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Crafting a Business Model to Marry Risk and Reward
Running India's most prominent biotechnology company in a risk-averse investment environment is a constant balancing act for Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the founder, chairman and managing director of Bangalore-based Biocon. Mazumdar-Shaw has crafted a business model for Biocon that balances stable revenues from its drugs and research services with relatively higher-risk drug discovery programs. In a conversation with India Knowledge@Wharton, Mazumdar-Shaw discusses her business hurdles and the roadmap to make Biocon India's leading company for diabetes and cancer drugs.
No Other Choice: Why Medical Tourism Continues to Thrive
In this opinion piece, Ravi Aron, a professor at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Mack Center for Technological Innovation at Wharton, argues that until affordable universal health care is a reality in the U.S., Americans will continue to travel abroad for health-related services.
Healthy Business: Will Medical Tourism Be India’s Next Big Industry?
U.S. President Barack Obama recently encouraged Americans to use the country’s health care system for their operations and procedures, instead of going to India and Mexico. But for many, medical tourism is not a matter of choice: They simply cannot afford treatment in the U.S., experts point out. In India, meanwhile, the medical tourism industry is booming, even as controversies erupt over quality and environmental issues.
