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In 2005, the global healthcare market was valued at over US $6.68 trillion. It
is growing at rate of .5 percent, which is much higher than the global gross
domestic product (GDP) growth. It is estimated that Asia currently constitutes
around 34 percent of the healthcare market. This figure is expected to increase
to about 45 percent by 2008 and projects opportunities for the Indian healthcare
in the global pharmaceutical and diagnostic markets.
Indian Diagnostics
Needless to say, Indian diagnostics, in the present scenario, will play an
important role in shaping future to healthcare industry in the country.
Approximately 70 percent of treatment decisions are based on pathology results,
emphasizing the importance of accurate diagnostics. The India pathology sector,
driven by price and service, is about $1 billion dollars and constitutes 2.5
percent of the overall healthcare delivery market. It is growing at the rate of
15 percent per year in the health care industry. Currently there around 40,000
labs in India. However there is a glaring apathetic attitude towards regulations
and accreditations.
Current Trends
The diagnostics sector has emerged as a multidisciplinary super specialty in its
own right with requirement of specialists in specific areas. With the advent of
modernization of healthcare technology there is also an availability of large
knowledge pool in India. The reliability and versatility of laboratory medicine
has changed from “opinion based” medical care to “evidence based” medicine.
There is a constant evolution of emerging branches under laboratory discipline –
for example molecular pathology and molecular genetics. Integration of IT
services in laboratory medicine and radiology has also made a great difference
in the country.
There is a pathetic lack of regulations. If one would want to set up a
diagnostic centre, there are no mandatory registrations, infrastructure norms
and accreditation or qualification requirements for clinical laboratories to
vouch for the authenticity of the centre.
Future
Indian diagnostic centres are also dependent on developed countries for quality
machines and regents. There are numerous opportunities for the pathology sector,
as India has emerged as a preferred global R&D hub. Diagnostics centres are now
harbouring advanced laboratory techniques like molecular diagnostics,
nanotechnology and multiplex assays using microarrays to provide better
diagnostics. Healthcare has reached home with non invasive glucose monitoring
and point of care testing.
Comprehensive range of tools and reliability has helped easy diagnosis.
Telepathology and teleradiology are getting recognized as specialized areas of
medicine rather than “Support areas”.
There is an inherent need for an Indian pathology industry which can influence
the government, provide improved standards of testing and better profit margins
to be recognized like IT/Pharma around the world. The pathology industry is set
to have a pan India network, providing diagnostic services to different types of
customers – patients, doctors, insurance, corporate and also rural India where
treatment is a priority.
(Courtesy: CII and Cygnus Research Reports ; abstracted from article published
in “Chronicle Pharmabiz” dated July 31, 2008)
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