INTRODUCTION:

India, being a country with rich heritage, varied culture and with pioneers in the health care system is still lagging behind in the advancements made in the field of public health care system. Though there has been many health related programmes launched by the Government and other International organizations we still behind in our objective of achieving health for all.

The survey by the National Family Health in 2005-06 clearly showed that both in urban and rural areas people rely on private health care due to the inadequate and pitiable quality of public health care in India[1]. The prologue of Health 2.0 in the mid-2000s and the upcoming of varied digital healthcare startups, the public health care system has taken new profile in the recent years.

According to the report of InnAccel’s most of the startups initiated and evaluated were tuned towards preventive measures in upgrading health care of the public at large with more monitoring solutions[1]. Specialized hospitals with latest gadgets and equipments, electroceuticals, clinical trials, pharma tourism, improved health insurance schemes, outsourcing of medical services, tele-medicine, online consultation and purchase of medicines have collectively become the recent developments in the health care sector.

MATERIALS AND METHODS-THE SCENARIO:

With the challenge of making health care affordable and available to the general public, entrepreneurs have envisaged their ideas in utilizing technology and IOT’s to widen the health care services [2] [6]. Similarly with the developments in technological field there has an increased demand on health care facilities which has paved way for many startups in the Indian health care scenario. Innovations involving connection between health care personnel and clientele groups and online delivery of medicines and services are on the increase to cater to the timely needs of the people. Home based health care and laboratory services are gaining momentum in India. It has been estimated that nearly 300 startups have been initiated country wide. Among the sectors in India which contribute to employment and revenue generation on a large scale is the health care system which is expected to be of a value worth USD 280 billion by 2020 and is estimated to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16 per cent since 2011 [3] [4]. India’s majority of the population are from the rural areas which have inadequate access to medical care facilities and the urban counterpart suffer from varied disease conditions arising because of their lifestyle, increased pollution and occupation there is a huge gap between the demand and supply of health care services with regard to the quality, cost factors and the kind of technological inputs required. All the factors have said to trigger heavy investments particularly in the health sector. The enormous growth in the health sector has been the major reason for India to be a recipient of USD288,634.1 million aggregate Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amid April 2000 and March 2016. Pharmaceuticals and drug developers received USD13,849.6 million, hospitals and diagnostic centers were recipients to an FDI of USD3,592.1 million, and medical and surgical appliances received USD1,097.1 million[4] [5]. The increased needs of the patients which could not be met by the traditional health services has become a major challenge and this has definitely been one of contributing reasons for startups in the health care sector. Advanced technologies and digitalization, through their innovation have emerged as potential startups in the health care ecosystem. Thus we see that startups could range from services at the door step of the patients, access to better health care services, opportunities for career, minimizing travel expenses, waiting for long hours to meet the consultant and for treatment, manufacturing of common drugs to discovery of drugs for new ailments and diseases. Hence startups are said to have revolutionized the Indian markets and the health care system as such.

Figure No:1

RESULTS:

With the Internet of things and cyber security fields widening start-ups have been initiated to enable people have easy access to their medical history in a digital format, as well as find healthcare professionals in propinquity to them for treatment of their health conditions. In addition to the operation of services, startups in drug discovery and improvisation next-generation antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant health conditions and diseases are being looked into [5] [2]. In a nutshell health care startups have ventured into one or all of the following areas: Doctor Networking and engagement, Doctors Discovery Platform / Aggregators, E-commerce /Pharmacy Delivery, Patient Education/Awareness/ Network, Personalized Health and Lifestyle services, Consultation and Appointment/Practice management, Health Record, Data and Claims Management, Devices /Tech/ Genomics, Home –healthcare, Specialty-care/Focused Care and Content/ Outsourcing[6] [3].

Discussion Related to Initiatives in India:

Here are a few of the startups in the health care ecosystem in India.

“Practo is a platform which facilitates patients to find doctors, clinics and hospitals and also have their medical queries clarified by experts in the respective field of specialization. Practo Ray, another medical software which enhances better practices of a doctor.

Credihealth is a startup in the health care sector which virtually connects patients and doctors and assists patients from the initial phase of consultation through hospitalization. It serves as a pathfinder in sourcing the right doctors, fixing up appointments, estimating of costs for the procedures and gives information to the patients on admission and discharge procedures.

Portea incepted by Zachary Jones and Karan Aneja in 2012, later bought by Meena Ganesh and K Ganesh Krishnan in 2013 aims to render world class medical care in the patient’s house by making it more accessible and affordable in 24 cities in India. Services of para medical professionals in the residence, offers lab tests at a patient’s home and provision medical equipment on rent is an added service of this startup.

Lybrate which was awarded the “Best startup” of transforming health care with IT in 2015 offers consultation and easy appointments to patients based on their need whether it be access to general or any specialty focused. This is an innovative online database of more than 90,000 doctors who are specialized and highly trained experts.

Mr. Phanish Chandra ,CEO, a business acumen and an alumni of IIT Kharagpur founded Docplexus is the largest professional network of more than 1,75,000 doctors across 83 speciality get connected and communicate, collaborate and consult patient cases to get expert inputs as well as provides doctors with latest medical articles and reviews for guidance on the innovations in the medical fields.

Buzz4health is an online platform for empowering the medical professionals on real medical cases enhancing continuous medical education and with its future endeavor of introducing fellowship programs with AIIMS, Medanta and others.

Mitra Biotech developed by Dr. Pradip Majumder, Mallik Sundaram and Shiladitya Sengupta in 2009 is focused on cancer cure. Hospitals, doctors and cancer patients could send their biopsy reports and samples to Mitra Biotech lab where the most optimal drug prescription personalized for a patient is suggested.

Zoctr is yet another Mumbai based startup which offers a plethora of Homecare, Telehealth and Value Added Services like Doctor/Healthcare Professional Appointments,12-Hr / 24-Hr Nursing/Attendant Servicesetc.

Med Genome founded in 2011 by Sam Santhosh, is genomics-based diagnostics and research company offering services related to clinical, genetic counseling and genomics solutions using DNA sequencing to conduct clinical genetic testing of complex conditions such as oncology, cardiology and ophthalmology etc. others. These investigations help doctors to decide how different medicines will react to different patients.

Attune Technologies pioneered in 2009 by Anand Gnanaraj, Ramakrishnan V, Arvind Kumar and Mohanaraj Paramagurusamy is a cloud-based healthcare technology solutions provider with their headquarters in Singapore. With the aim of equipping efficiency and revenues, their solutions enable integrating of labs, hospitals, pharmacies, blood banks, radiology, medical devices and accounting.

1mg which was earlier known as Healthkart Plus with its headquarters at Gurgaon, India was founded by Sameer Maheshwari and Prashant Tandon in 2012 focusses on generic medicine and pharmacy network search engine which equips beneficiaries to have information regarding medicines as prescribed by doctors and also to purchase them. There is also provision to finds the kind of drugs based on the ailments, brands, company and class”.

Thus Startups in the health Care Industry has made a revolution in this globalized economy where startups like Practo, Portea Medical, Med Genome, Lybrate, Medwell Ventures have already made a mark in the online healthcare industry joining the race to crack the business model. The list will not stop as innovation and inventive spirit is becoming an essential attribute of engineers.

CONCLUSION:

Ultimately technology can prove to be a game-changer in an emerging market like India where a huge gap exists between rural and urban masses when it comes to access to high-quality and effective medical services. The Indian healthcare industry has been growing by leaps and bounds. With a very poor Doctor to patient ratio, the Indian healthcare industry needs some radical steps to change how things are right now. The industry is facing slow growth in the market due to sluggish flow of funds, lot of real time risks and no clear cut supportive regulations from government, reaching doctors through digitized healthcare mode during needy times, non viable business model for revenues, nuisance apps and non availability of right mentors. These combating issues should be properly contained for the long term sustainability.

REFERENCES:

1. https://yourstory.com/2016/02/digital-healthcare-startups/(accessed on 5-5-17)

2. https://www.quora.com/Where-can-I-find-a-list-of-Healthcare-Startups-in-India(accessed on 5-5-17)

3. https://www.gita.org.in/Attachments/Reports/Healthcare-the-neglected-GDP-driver-2015.pdf(accessedon5-5-17)

4. http://techcircle.vccircle.com/2016/09/22/most-funded-healthcare-startups-in-india/(accessed on 5-5-17)

5. http://www.iamwire.com/2015/12/5-biggest-challenges-healthcare-tech-startups-facing-india/129075(accessed on 5-5-17)

6. http://dipp.nic.in/English/Publications/FDI_Statistics/FDI_Statistics.aspx, accessed on 23 March, 2017. (accessed on 5-5-17).

Received on 26.04.2017 Modified on 17.06.2017

Research J. Pharm. and Tech 2017; 10(12): 4175-4177.

DOI: 10.5958/0974-360X.2017.00761.2