Healthcare Startup for Rural India
How to be successful in one of the fastest-growing sectors in India — Healthcare
India is developing very rapidly but one of its sector Healthcare especially in Tier — 2, 3 cities, and rural areas are in dire need of growth. A different approach is needed to overcome the shortcomings in these areas.
2.2% of Indian Gross domestic product (GDP) is issued toward Healthcare, which is one of the lowest in the world
Economic Survey of India data shows that, 60% of Primary Health Centers (PHC) in India have only 1 designated doctor and 5% of PHCs have none. Gujrat have the worst scenario with 90% of PHCs have only 1 doctor, Kerala and Karnatka following with 80%, where Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar have 1 doctor for 70% of PHCs. Primary Health Centres (PHC) of Jharkhand (10%) and Chhattisgarh (20%) have no doctors at all.
In rural PHCs are limited, 8% of the centers don’t a doctor or medical staffs, 39% have no technicians and 18% PHCs have zero pharmacists.
Only 20% of all PHCs complied with Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS). PHCs of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana comply with only 5% whereas Southern states, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu comply 90% & 100% respectively.
Around 86% of all health visits in India are made by rural patients with the majority traveling more than 100 km to avail of the medical facility. 70 — 80% of expenses if borne by patients from their pocket ultimately landing them in poverty.
92% of the population visit private healthcare providers in which 70% is the urban population. The government does not have any regulation for the private healthcare sector and due to that, they are very expensive. The poor population can not bear the expenditure.
India have second largest number of maternity deaths following Nigeria.
Antenatal care (ANC) services are availed by 30% of illiterate when compared with 85% of the literate population and 57% of rural women likely to receive ANC services as opposed to 74% of the urban women population.
Lack of men's power, reluctant community participation, no promotion, and coordination between government and peoples make condition nasty.
Government attitude toward Healthcare
2.2% of Indian GDP is allocated for healthcare, despite an increase it is still one of the lowest in the world. It shows government negligence towards the health of its people. Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE)is still very high and worrisome. OOPE is one of the highest in the world despite the decline. Surveys identified that the cost of medicines as one of the major contributors to OOPE.
While there are many propositions from the government to provide medicine free of cost, it is still high.
Program like AYUSH (Research and propagation of alternative medicine systems) may help Indian government to bring down OOPE.
Roles of Startups
India has over 800 million mobile users. With the rapid growth of mobile and internet users, we can leverage this opportunity for better healthcare.
Indian healthcare startups (DoctoriDuniya, Lybrate, Practo, etc) are providing easy and accessible options for patients but less tech-savvy and illiterate peoples need a different approach.
A startup like DoctoriDuniya is providing patients from Tier — 2,3 cities and rural populations with the option of a Call center with an online presence. Call center support is very famous among Tier — 2,3 cities and rural areas.
Call center support helps less tech-savvy and illiterate patients to book online appointments, do online consultations, and take help without going online. People feel connected with the person while talking online and share their issues without any hesitation.
We need more startups like DoctoriDuniya for better healthcare in Tier — 2,3 cities and rural areas.
