Carethics

GE is serving another gold mine from its new Public private partnership endeavor. It expects to rake in at least 800 crores in revenues through this initiative, reports LiveMint. As per the project, GE is going to setup diagnostic facilities in public hospitals & medical colleges across the country in partnership with various state govts. These units will also be funded by GE healthcare’s financial services group. As per plan, Labs will provide services at 30 to 50% reduced costs from existing private labs. Generally, private labs charges anywhere b/w Rs.3,000 to 10,000 for MRI & CT scan services. First in its hands is a contract with MP govt and Sanya hospital to develop diagnostic centre at Netaji subhash Chandra Bose Medical College in Jabalpur.

Our View

Healthcare till lately have been considered largely as unorganized sector compromising on quality and services. PPP initiatives provide good opportunities to private sector for more organized and professional healthcare services. Taking inspiration from many successful models of PPP in operation in different countries of the world, like the UK, Australia and France, Indian Govt as well have taken out tender worth 1500 crore for 6 AIIMS like hospital in the country.

Year 2008, will commence another era of emergency health services in this country. On the roll are 10,000 state of the art ambulances in various states like Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala reports TOI. Govt seems to have taken cue from successful model being implemented by Emergency management & Research Institute (EMRI) in Andhra. In almost 2 years of operations, EMRI's 108 emergency service has already saved some 15,500 lives and attended 5 lakh emergencies. As a national emergency service, the 24×7 operations will cost the exchequer 2000 crore annually. Govt is also in talks with Department of Telecom in order to make 108 as national emergency number. Emergency Health services have never been taken seriously by the Govt. In fact, 70 % of the trauma victims lose their lives due to no proper emergency care system in the country. In most develop countries, ambulance reaches the spot within 10-15 mins, but here they can't even leave hospital within that time.

Our View
Certainly, with the professional approach of EMRI, this initiative could help lakhs of accident victims who lose their life due to non availability of emergency care. This year Andhra Govt has gone a step further, they have launched 104 as health information helpline, to offer advice and counseling service on phone and in the future, it is planned to register appointments with the Doctors as well through phone.

EXCLUSIVE

Nishant Jain

“The Clinic” – network service provider, is enabling local doctors to scale up, give all round services and provide long term hand holding to their pateints. I spoke to their Director, Dr Ankit Khambhati about their service model and expansion plans.

Me: What is the concept of ‘The Clinic’? How did you come upon the idea?
Dr Ankit: One of our Directors, a GP himself thought of the idea with his colleagues while considering the need for standardization of primary healthcare. That's when we initiated this concept of network services. The Clinic gives local Doctors the power of brand, technology, and services with global standards. We provide services which patients need like lifestyle disease mgmt, day to day care and empower the GP to deliver this using the platform of a globally accredited software.

Me: How do you place yourself in the healthcare scenario in India?
Dr Ankit: A few years down the line, the most prevalent ailment in this country will be lifestyle diseases. In a hospital environment, disease management is not possible, such patients need proper handholding…which can only be provided through local doctors. A pro-patient approach is needed but not neccessarily possible in the current set-up. we hope to fill that gap and provide a personalised experience.

Me: What are your expansion plans?
Dr Ankit: Within 6 months of our operations, we have 76 clinics in 3 cities, ( 55 in Mumbai and few in Chennai and Ahmedabad). We plan to expand upto 10,000 clinics in 32 cities in the next 5 years.

Me: What's your revenue model?
Dr Ankit: We have a shared services model, or you can say our revenue comes from allied services like EMR, pharmacy, lab tests and insurance services.

Me: The way Indian healthcare industry is moving, now Apollo and Max are also setting up a retail presence, so how do you percieve the competition?
Dr Ankit: I think with time, Competition is only going to increase. But that will benefit the patients. As a grass root level player, we hope to be the gateway to the healthcare system. A family doctor is often the main source of referrals, we are enabling him/her to deliver an all round package to their regular patients.

EXCLUSIVE

nishant

Times online just a few days back reported that NRI docs are finding Indian healthcare Industry a rising sector; they are now looking forward to come back and practice here for better opportunities. I spoke with a practicing dentist from Delhi, Dr Arvinder, who is heading to Australia for specialization. Arvinder has already done his grads from Karnataka, gave master's exams in UK.

Me: Why did you choose AUS to pursue specializations?
Dr Arvinder: I think, in all the well established countries, level of education is same. So now, Australia stand equivalent to US, Canada or UK in that regard. Plus Australian education is much cheaper than any of the countries mentioned above. They give 2 years work permit. So, one can look for working further as well.

Me: How the International tag helps in future?
Dr Arvinder: Firstly, most of these degrees are recognized world wide and obviously, the techniques and treatments used are more advanced than you can get anywhere in India. So, they give you more exposure.

Me: Are you looking to come back to India post your studies?
Dr Arvinder: It depends, if I get good opportunities…my first priority is to gain some valuableexperience. But after that I am going to comeback here to start off my own Dental Hospital.

Me: As the Indian healthcare industry is progressing, do you get good opportunity here in India as well?

Dr Arvinder: In India, what counts is your experience. And once you have that in a foreign land, then you can easily get to work with many of the corporate chains that are coming up. As the cutting edge technology is available here with low costs, it helps patients as well as Doctors. As, doctors also get versed with advance technology and treatment more often.

Kerela Govt has found a new way to control medication costs….They are going to restrict number of medicines that doctors can prescribe, that too in compliance with WHO protocol. And one more thing, govt is going to make it mandatory for the Doctors to prescribe medicines by their generic name, not the brand name. IMA has not come out to support the move, as they say it curtails Doctor's freedom to prescribe the necessary medicines. Rajasthan govt has also tried for such a measure in the past, but could not implement it due to opposition from Doctors.
Well at the end of it: there is no reason why generic name prescription is not made mandatory in at least the government hospitals, as government unabashedly and grossly under funds its healthcare machinery…

Today, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss has released Indian Pharmacopoeia 2007. Document has been published in three volumes. Fifth edition of India Pharmacopoeia, lays down the standards of drugs being produced and marketed in India. Procedures and standards are legally enforceable which further helps in inspection and licensing.

Pharmacopoeia by it's dictionary name means art of the drug compounder. & by definition from “wikipedia”, is a book containing directions for the identification of samples and the preparation of compound medicines, and published by the authority of a government or a medical or pharmaceutical society.

I think, there is no denying the fact that these standards will help drug makers compete better at international arena. These guidelines will also help the sectors where no set guidelines exists. Especially biogenerics, where international requirements are not fully met by all manufacturers as no distinct guidelines are in place. This is expected to change, with the introduction of monographs for seven rDNA products in the Indian Pharmacopoeia.

Pune based packaging solution company Bilcare has come out with a label to help pharma companies fight counterfeit drugs, reports ET. Label comes with a unique bar code, which is made by nanotechnology, can be swiped in a scanner or select ATMs to check the authenticity of drug. Bilcare has already got the patent for it. Time to time, lot of research and studies have been done to checkout the extent of menace of spurious drugs in India (WHOreports). Out of the total organized medicine market of Rs 30,000 crore, it is estimated that counterfeit drugs account for almost15% of the medicines sold. Many drug makers have already taken various steps to control the menace eating into their business. Brands are coming out with RFIDs and holograms. For e.g. GSK has come out with 3D holograms on their popular brand Crocin. Just a few months back, India was even labelled as hub for counterfeit drugs by European Commission.

Neurosynaptic Communication, a Bangalore firm, has been recognized for the World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer award in Healthcare category, as innovative telecommunication solution.
The company has a portable diagnostic kit (priced approx Rs.9000) that performs five basic health tests, including blood pressure, temperature, and even an electrocardiogram (ECG). Used by the village paramedic, results are transmitted back to the closest hospital through any of the multimedia kiosks mushrooming across rural India. Cost to the patient: a rock bottom Rs.25 per test. The company is working on a range of products designed for various clinical setups. Developed in cooperation with the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras, some of other devices from the firm are designed for continuous monitoring of patients in the ICU or at home.
Mind you all these devices are clinically validated.
Now, here’s a technology that’s commercially viable and can certainly give a major boost to reach of healthcare in this country.

Sanofi-Aventis & Abbott laboratories have jointly filed suit against Indian drug maker Glenmark in US, to prevent the drug maker from launching generic version of best selling drug Tarka. The two companies are seeking a court order to block Glenmark from selling the drug until the patent expires in 2015. In the event, if Glenmark successfully challenges the patent it will be granted 180 days exclusivity period to sell the drug. Tarka is indicated for the treatment of hypertension. On Wednesday, Shares of Glenmark shot up 10.61% to close at Rs574.95 on BSE.

It was shocking, when 2 months back, Lisa died of Breast Cancer. Lisa ain’t a person, but she was a character in a famous comic strip. Funky Winkerbeans, that’s the highly syndicated strip by Tim Batuik, comes in over 400 newspapers and publications daily. A strip that entertained, amused, moved and more importantly that was saying about life of a person who was living with cancer. Lisa lived with the disease for over 8 years. During those early years, the cartoonist walked the character and his readers through diagnosis, treatment, family issues and to what seemed to be victory over the disease. But the cancer recovers and she succumbed to the disease. Her death brought praise as well as anger from the readers. But it also brought the disease to the centre -stage, attracting lot of attention…It prompted vigorous discussion, which apart from being empowering, raise awareness and ultimately help save lives.WHO estimates that last year there were 1.2 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosed worldwide, and 79,000 here in India. Tragically, more than 4,00,000 women die every year from breast cancer related causes worldwide. ‘Funky Winkerbean’ strip are a classic example of willingness to take a traditionally taboo issue and make it part of a very real, dynamic, ongoing conversation. I believe this approach can help generate lot of awareness in this country as well where it is difficult to bring these issues in the public domain.