Devi Prasad Shetty: Revolutionising Healthcare From Hospitals To Communities

“Healthcare in India is poised to witness a revolution. The cost of healthcare will go down in the next five to ten years and India will become the first country in the world to dissociate healthcare from affluence.” said Devi Prasad Shetty, Narayana Health (formerly Narayana Hrudayalaya). He was delivering the 14 Foundation Day Lecture on September 19, 2024 at  the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE) on the topic ‘Transforming the Healthcare through Digital Health.’ 

Addressing the students, staff and guests of ICFAI, Shetty said that healthcare is being delivered as it was about a century ago and the sector has not witnessed a major revolution that other sectors like food, communications and travel have seen that drove down the prices. But things are changing and in a few years, India will prove to the world that the nation’s or family’s wealth will have nothing to do with the quality of healthcare that citizens will enjoy. Shetty called for a developing infrastructure to handle simple surgeries, lacking in most developing countries resulting in 17 to 18 million deaths annually.  

Shetty said that health insurance is critical and with new policies brought out by IRDA, hospitals can become insurance providers. This will be a game changer and transform the way healthcare is delivered in the country. He said that the existing health insurance in the country has some flaws as all the stakeholders, hospitals, insurance companies and patients do not trust one other. If hospitals provide insurance, there is no conflict among the stakeholders and the interests of healthcare providers and patients are aligned. Narayana Health has launched insurance to cater to the needs of the ‘missing middle class’ who cannot afford healthcare but can pay for health insurance.

Shetty said he was looking at making preventive care available to every person close to their place of work or home. He concluded his address by bringing to the fore the importance of digitising healthcare. Shetty said that healthcare would move to a digital platform and all medical records must be available on a mobile phone. Access through mobile phones will avoid unnecessary tests and treatments, as doctors can access the necessary documents. He said that the ‘mobile first’ approach to digitalisation will dramatically change how healthcare will be provided and accessed in India.