Launched on September 1, at FICCI HEAL 2016, the knowledge paper evaluates the role and need for healthcare startups in India, their evolution in the sector and the funding scenario. It also assesses the future of these startups, highlights some of the challenges being faced by them and suggests a way forward.
FICCI Health Services Committee Chair, Nandakumar Jairam said, “Fostering startups and entrepreneurship will provide the requisite innovative approach for achieving these reforms.”
Co-Founder and Chairman of Medwell Ventures, Vishal Bali said, “Startups are already disrupting the way healthcare is delivered in India. According to the NASSCOM Startup Ecosystem Report 2015, India serves as the fastest growing startup-base worldwide and 6-8% of the recent B2C startups in India have been in the health-tech sector. This means that the sector has already secured ample traction from investors owing to its huge potential.”
Partner and Head, Government and Healthcare, KPMG in India, Nilaya Varma said, “Healthcare startups in India have potential to emerge as new enabler of accessible and affordable healthcare services. However, startups continue to encounter problems like funding, incubation and regulatory environment. The government’s Startup India initiative intends to bridge some of the challenges. In the recent past increasing number of HNIs, seed funds, incubators and other private investors have extended support to start-ups. The creation of conducive ecosystem for healthcare start-ups will be boon for the healthcare sector”.
Some of the key finding presented in the knowledge paper are:
Startups can act as a much needed facilitator to help approximately 70% of the rural population with limited or no access to hospitals or clinics.
Mobile and internet platforms can be one of the means to address India’s deficient healthcare facilities, via innovation in technology and telemedicine. This could result in better diagnosis by doctors making the history of patients available on cloud platforms.
The startup domain is struggling to rope in the right investors and arrange for adequate funding, which could largely be attributed to the slow pace of growth in the sector. It takes anywhere between 10 to 15 years to introduce a new product in the market with very few prevalent business models to compare with.
India’s public spending on the healthcare sector comprises of only 1.4 per cent of the GDP and is amongst the lowest in the world.
Private sector stakeholders could play a crucial hand in the growth and development of healthcare start-ups, by investing in high-risk which could enable entrepreneurs to bring medical advancements and generate higher returns for them.
Source: Economic Times