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`Healthcare must get infrastructure status'

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Nov. 29

THE Government needs to accord infrastructure status to the healthcare industry since 80 per cent of patients in the country are treated by private healthcare providers, Dr Prathap Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group, said on Thursday.

Speaking to newspersons, he said that in the backdrop of the fact that health insurance has not taken off, the Government needs to have a roadmap for healthcare.

"If there is more clarity on the health insurance issue and if the environment is conducive, Apollo would be interested in getting into the health insurance business directly."

Issues related to third party administrators, like disallowing them from canvassing, for instance, need to be sorted out, he added.

To spur growth in the health insurance sector, the Government needs to pass a fiat urging that a percentage of all insurance companies' services be dedicated to health and a percentage of health insurance concentrate on the rural sector.

To reduce the bed-to-patient ratio from the existing one bed for 1,300 people to one for 700 people would require investments of about Rs 20,000 crore per annum. "And this investment needs to be raised by private healthcare providers."

The private sector also needs to create a network of healthcare providers, which would facilitate more companies to get into health insurance, he added.

Meanwhile, Apollo Hospitals is getting into managing other hospitals apart from its own.

It has increased the number of beds from 1,950 beds in 1998 to about 4,000 beds within 18 months.

It is also looking at increasing the number to 9,000 beds within the next 18 months. Of these, about 1,000 beds would be owned, while the rest would be managed, he said.

The potential for healthcare providers in the country lies in tapping the opportunity in other regions such as West Asia, where the former's expertise could be traded for the latter's infrastructure.

Besides spreading one's network, such arrangements also make good business sense, he added.