“When we were building Wockhardt Hospitals, for over 19 years we had close to 3,000 beds and were the second largest. And the largest hospital boasts of 7,000 beds. Currently, there’s a spend of close to USD 1,85,000 per bed. One of the biggest problems in the country is infrastructure development,” said Vishal Bali of Medwell Ventures at the Decoding Healthcare event by Unitus Ventures in Bengaluru this week.
For a population of over a billion people, the healthcare market in India is growing at CAGR 17 per cent. It is believed to be one of the fastest growing sectors in the country. According to a report by IBEF, the total size of the healthcare industry is expected to touch USD 160 billion by 2017.
“But the bigger equation of accessibility and affordability is what constantly plays healthcare,” added Vishal. While there is a growth trajectory there is huge demand and supply gap and the biggest stumbling block is infrastructure creation. Looking at this gap, Vishal believed the area we need to put money, resources, innovation and technology into was out-of-hospital care.
