Liquid helium used for cooling the superconducting magnets of MRI scanners is an unexpected war casualty. Helium, a gas rather difficult to synthesise, is a byproduct of liquified natural gas (LNG) and is used as a coolant even in the manufacture of semiconductor chips.
The Indian healthcare providers, who have been coping with this problem ever since the COVID days are now finding the challenges aggravated since Middle East is a major supplier of liquid helium. Ras Laffan, an industrial city in Qatar, which has been a major supplier of liquid helium has been shut and this has added to the woes albeit there may be some comfort in the next generation of MRI scanners that do not need helium but then many in use today are dependent on liquid helium.
At an online meeting with journalists, Himanshu Baid, vice president, NATHEALTH and the managing director of Poly Medicure, said, other than the short supply of helium, Indian healthcare providers were closely watching the impact the war could have in terms of freight and raw material costs.
While other than these, there has not been any direct impact thus far, in few weeks from now, the healthcare providers may have to brace themselves up for some shortages and if travel do get restricted further, medical value tourism could also get impacted. “It is already witnessing a slight dip as a large part of medical value tourism happens from the Middle East,” said Baid.
Ameera Shah, president NATHEALTH and also the promoter & executive chairperson, Metropolis Healthcare, reminded that while at the moment there was no significant impact of the developments in the Middle East for the Indian healthcare, the industry was bracing itself up for what may lie ahead. “Only in anticipation of the situation staying the same for a long period of time or worsening further, all we can do at the moment is strategic stocking of essential materials – critical medicines that pharmacies will need, imported kits and reagents that diagnostic sector will require or the crucial inputs that hospitals will need. So, anticipating risks and providing for it is the only option and for this we are working with government to draw up a comprehensive list of such items.”
Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy
Earlier, the NATHEALTH leadership released two significant reports at the Arogya Bharat Summit 2026. The first report, developed in collaboration with Bain & Company, highlights the critical link between population health and economic growth. It underscores that improving India’s Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE) from ~61 years to 70 years could unlock a fivefold increase in GDP per capita, positioning health as a central lever in achieving the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision. This also underlined by Sangita Reddy, senior vice president, NATHEALTH & the joint managing director, Apollo Hospitals Group. She said NATHEALTH was committed to and signing up for building quality and the patient-safety framework of the country as it could have a far reaching impact across lives, operating profits and towards enhancing the quality of healthcare at large.
The second report released by NATHEALTH and drawn up in partnership with Praxis Global Alliance, the focus was on India’s healthcare financing landscape. It draws attention to structural gaps, including high out-of-pocket expenditure (~44%) and the large “missing middle” population lacking adequate insurance coverage. The paper outlines a roadmap to build a more inclusive, interoperable, and sustainable financing ecosystem as the sector scales towards a projected $700 billion by 2030.