IFHE Celebrates Foundation Day; Hosts Lecture

“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 Dr Devi Prasad Shetty of Narayana Health (formerly Narayana Hrudayalaya). He was delivering the 14th Foundation Day Lecture on 19th September 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, Dr 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. Dr Shetty called for a developing infrastructure to handle simple surgeries, lacking in most developing countries resulting in 17 to 18 million deaths annually.

Dr C Rangarajan, chancellor of the university, presided over the function. He said a combination of universal healthcare and insurance could be appropriate for our country. He called for a scheme where the government has an important role to play and for providing some medical facilities free of cost. He said that the government needs to take care of certain kinds of people and has responsibility for some sections of society. He noted that the primary health center system should be improved, especially in rural areas. He said that when healthcare provider provides insurance services, it would reduce unnecessary costs and transactions.

Dr LS Ganesh, Vice Chancellor, in his welcome address spoke about the The Yeshasvini rural health micro-insurance scheme pioneered by Dr Devi Shetty that extended health insurance to the poor and explained how Dr Shetty has brought time and cost efficiency in healthcare through technology.

Sobha Rani Yasaswy, Chair Person, ICFAI Society; Dr J Mahender Reddy, Distinguished Advisor, ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education; Prof Vijayalakshmi, Registrar, other dignitaries, students and faculty attended the lecture.