IMPACT OF COVID-19 IN INDIAN HEALTHCARE
Are you looking for information about How COVID-19 impacted the Indian Healthcare industry and which all sectors are affected? In this article, Hospaccx Healthcare Consultancy has mentioned the points of Indian Healthcare industry affected by the recent pandemic that has spread across the world. If you need a refined market and financial feasibility or any other study related to healthcare, you can contact Hospaccx Healthcare Business Consulting Pvt. Ltd on hospaccx.india@gmail.com or you can visit our website on hospaccxconsulting.com
INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and has since spread globally, resulting in an ongoing pandemic.
In India, the cases of COVID-19 have crossed 2 lakhs and more than 6000 deaths in the country. The Impact of COVID-19 has created havoc in the healthcare industry, with shutting down the operations of the private hospitals and nursing homes. COVID-19 pandemic has stretched the healthcare infrastructure of even the most developed countries and is expected to cause economic recession unparalleled in recent history.
The COVID-19 pandemic is straining health systems worldwide. The rapidly increasing demand on health facilities and health care workers threatens to go away some health systems overstretched and unable to work effectively. During the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, the increased number of deaths caused by measles, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis due to health system failures exceeded deaths from Ebola. With over 1.6 million positive cases across the planet, the number of individuals infected by this virus has been greater than the other pandemic in recent history. Though the case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been less than SARS of 2003, the greater spread of this infection has resulted during a significant total price
When the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading across the globe the countries started converting the conventions center into the isolation facilities or the public or private hospitals to COVID-19 hospitals. The country running with the shortage of hospital beds started setting up the isolation units at various places to battle the pandemic. When the COVID-19 virus began spreading throughout the world, the decision to action rose within the medical world including those that add medical building design. Healthcare professionals did their best to organize for an expected wave of patients in need of treatment, some requiring standard levels of care, while many others requiring medical care, including intubations. By and enormous, the healthcare community within us rose to satisfy the challenge.
The impact of COVID-19 majorly affected the private healthcare in India. Unprecedented slowdown was seen in the private hospitals. The COVID-19 pandemic affected many of the private hospitals, nursing homes and clinics especially in tier-2 and tier-3 cities were forced to shut down for their operations. Due to which the cash flow of the hospitals were dried up. No possibility of income was there. COVID-19 leaves the private hospitals or nursing homes in financial distress.
In terms of accessibility and quality of healthcare service, the country ranks 145 among 195 countries globally. Countries that spend upwards of 8-10 percent of GDP on healthcare also are crumbling under the large burden of this pandemic, giving shivers to the governments across the developing world, including India; India spends a meager 1.4 percent of GDP as public expenditure on healthcare. Recognizing the inadequacy of this for serving such an enormous population, the govt. had laid out an ambition to extend the spending to 2.5 percent of GDP within the next two to 3 years. While progress has been made within the recent past in augmenting the infrastructure and manpower through opening new tertiary institutes, increasing seats in medical colleges, and implementing the expansion of primary healthcare set up across the country under Ayushman Bharat, tons still must be done. This need is acutely being felt now while we steel oneself against a scenario if things go out of hand further, and this realization will hopefully accelerate the implementation of healthcare infrastructure strengthening. At an equivalent time, within the short-term, since an enormous spends is being utilized for managing the pandemic, budgetary allocations on current plans will get realigned.
The Covid-19 pandemic has harmed the private healthcare sector, leading to a 70- 80 percent drop by footfall, test volumes, and a 50-70 percent drop by revenue. Private hospitals and nursing homes are the ones who constitute more than 60% of beds of inpatients. The COVID-19 has impacted the diagnostic laboratories and the healthcare tourism of India, due to no cash flow the machines are being no maintained and getting rusted.
An epidemic of this proportion needs a particular infrastructure to affect. None of the countries, whether developed or developing or poor, have such an infrastructure. The COVID-19 infection has exposed the so-called developed countries’ systems to the utmost. From the logistics of essential commodities to healthcare facilities, everything is super-strained in most nations.
Following are the points how COVID-19 pandemic is going to affect the healthcare industry in India:
- Internalization of pharmacy supply chain and Make-in-India focus for medical equipment
- Medical tourism will continue to see a downtrend, at least in the short-term
- Increased use of technology, telemedicine, training of primary doctors and mobile hospitals
- Required additional manpower, equipment consumables and other requirements to ensure 100% preparedness for safety in the hospitals
- The private healthcare industry has been witnessing the loss of business and this trend is predicted to continue for the foreseeable future (at least 2-3 months), and therefore the incontrovertible fact that the sector’s costs are predominantly (around 80 percent) fixed, it’s expected that there’ll be losses and severe impact on cash flows.
- The medical devices industry is also affected as India imports orthopedic implants, gloves, syringes, bandages, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging devices from China. Due to the current crisis, the medical device industry is not able to import from china and other countries. Even though some of the factories have started their operation in china but to assemble the machine they require other essential equipment that is shutdown. This affects the margin and profitability of the Indian companies importing medical devices.
- Strengthening of state infrastructure and public-private partnerships over the next few years, but within the near-term, ongoing plans will see a serious realignment
- The ICU in the Indian hospitals is mostly engaged with the COVID-19 patients. So here the issue comes that where the other disease patients can need to be kept under observation.
- Shortages of the PPE for the staff in healthcare. Shortages of beds in the hospitals for other disease patients.
- In India, the patients are sharing beds as there is a shortage of beds in the Country. Shortages of medical staff.
- The Indian healthcare is lacking behind in providing the ventilator facility for the COVID-19 patient as it has hit the market for producing the ventilators.
- Private sectors now days are charging more for the COVID-19 patients. As they want to recover the loss occurred during the complete lockdown of the country.
CONCLUSION
This study concludes that in the pandemic the Indian healthcare has not been affected much. Some of the private healthcare sectors are the loss bearer. The pharmaceuticals are not much affected in this pandemic. According to the IMF, India will remain the fastest growing economy in 2020, and that is a great morale booster. In terms of volume, India is the 3rd largest producer of pharmaceuticals and related products in the world, and a major exporter of generic drugs and devices to all parts of the world.
It is the superficial and macro-level study for more details kindly contact Hospaccx Healthcare business consulting Pvt. ltd on or hospaccx.india@gmail.com or you can visit our website on hospaccxconsulting.com
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