By Nitish Agarwal
In a country as vast and diverse as India, achieving fair access to healthcare presents a significant challenge. With a population of over 1.4 billion spread across urban centres and remote rural areas, the discrepancies in healthcare access are still very stark. While technology has offered solutions in many sectors, e.g. UPI /payments, weather forecasting, agriculture, commerce, communication etc; Healthcare, inspite of advanced technological innovations, ranging from telemedicine platforms to AI-powered diagnostics, has so far played a marginal role in democratizing healthcare access.
In the landscape of healthcare startups, a large number of ideas have provided solutions away from the traditional hospital/clinical service delivery. These have included various ventures engaged in clinic pharmacy distribution, health checkups, appointment management, Outpatient consultations etc., primarily targeting the outpatient departments. These ventures have predominantly embraced a business-to-consumer (B2C) approach, akin to other startups, with elevated customer acquisition costs and many of these models have struggled to gain significant traction/scale up significantly.
Inspite of the large focus on outpatient/B2C models, there have been some startups focusing on innovations to provide patient care solutions within hospital settings. And we are now seeing an increasing trend of startups addressing clinical management, in-patient care solutions, disease detection & cure, and medical devices.
This trend is particularly noticeable in the MedTech sector which entails the development of devices and equipment to improve patient care. Historically, a very large portion of any hospital’s higher-end equipment and devices have been imported, but the revitalized focus on manufacturing, via the ‘Make in India’ initiative, adds to the promising outlook for the growth of MedTech startups.
Two pivotal factors that have hindered, and if addressed, can greatly boost the growth of MedTech in India startups in India: Enhanced access to hospitals for testing and deployment, achieved through strategic interventions, and Availability of “patient” capital specifically tailored to the unique challenges of the healthcare sector, potentially sourced from within the healthcare ecosystem.
Access to Hospitals
A major challenge confronting healthcare startup is securing access to hospitals for testing, designing, and positioning their services. Hospitals are typically cautious in embracing new technologies and prioritize proven solutions to mitigate potential risks to patients. Addressing this bottleneck necessitates strategic interventions, potentially through government initiatives or collaborative efforts. Such initiatives can play a pivotal role in surmounting the longstanding impediment of limited access to hospitals for healthcare.
“Patient” Capital
Funding for Healthcare/MedTech startups is another significant challenge faced by healthcare startups in other sectors. Owing to their much longer product development and testing cycles, as compared to purely digital startups which can design, deploy and scale much more rapidly, Healthcare startups require more “patient” and longer-term capital. These are not addressed well by typical seed/angel/VC ecosystems, which have relatively shorter time horizons. This underscores the necessity to establish pools of capital specifically tailored to the unique requirements of healthcare startups. It is plausible that a portion of this patient capital could stem from within the healthcare ecosystem itself, again assisted and supported by varied platforms.
Other factors that are helping create a healthy ecosystem for MedTech are: Government Support for MedTech via appropriate policy interventions and the sharp improvement in the perceived quality of Indian Medtech.
Government Support for MedTech
The government’s proactive attitude further strengthens India’s progress in the MedTech sector. The National Medical Device Policy, which the Indian government released last year, lays out a thorough plan for encouraging the growth and competitiveness of the country’s medical device industry. In addition to reducing reliance on imports, the policy envisions a 10-12% worldwide market share attained in the following 25 years. The government is creating the conditions for a robust MedTech ecosystem by reducing regulations, facilitating the construction of infrastructure, and employing investment-attracting tactics. This regulatory framework ensures that quality and safety standards are followed while also promoting innovation and creating a welcoming atmosphere for new businesses.
Perceived Quality of Indian MedTech
Advancements like the ‘Make in India’ campaign are contributing to a revolutionary change in the perception of overall Indian manufacturing and having a rub-off effect on the perceived quality of medical devices and equipment designed developed and manufactured in India. Indian manufacturers are becoming increasingly well-known for designing, developing, and producing advanced technology MedTech devices and equipment like stents, joints, ventilators etc and in recent times even linear accelerators and Cath labs, which count among the most complex equipment within a hospital and demonstrate the country’s capacity to generate superior MedTech products. Consequently, the way the world views Indian medical products is also changing, albeit slowly, opening new avenues for Indian MedTech businesses to compete globally.
To sum up, the growing MedTech startup industry in India indicates a major shift in the country’s healthcare system, bringing advanced and easily accessible medical treatment to the country’s vast population. Advances in technology, support from the government, and shifting attitudes are giving Indian healthcare startups—especially those in the MedTech space—a new lease on life. The future of Medtech innovation in the nation will be greatly influenced by availability of Patient Capital, hospital access, and ongoing government support as the ecosystem continues to change.
(The author is Managing Director at Indium Capital Advisors, Member of NATHEALTH. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of the FinancialExpress.com.)
