The whole world talks about the low costs at Indian Hospitals which drives a very heavy traffic of International patients to India. But these discussions often come with a doubt about the quality of healthcare delivery in India. Do the costs come down as a result of compromise on quality? The answer is a straight no. The doctors and hospitals in India can be compared to best in the world and the results are as good as from the top institutes in the world. In fact many doctors in India hold world record in certain surgeries and appear in Limca book for world records.
There are other surprising reasons why the cost in India is low - 1. Indian produces Healthcare talent at home. Every year almost 50000 doctors graduate from various medical institutes. Such is the story for support staff like nurses, physiotherapists etc. Thus, Indian does not have to hire medical talent from outside keeping the cost of human resource low. And of course, given the superlative education system Indian Doctors remain one of the best in the world.
2. Almost everything is home produced. Pharmaceuticals, Implants, equipment etc. Indian is a very large manufacturing hub. So, India does not incur any import costs further bringing down the cost of healthcare.
3. Governments Involvement into healthcare business ensures that Indian hospitals cannot overcharge and keep a check on the costs. Assigning important resources like land to corporates for building hospitals at a subsidized price, ensures the project costs are low and the breakeven comes at a lower price.
4. Lastly the economies of scale do help. With a 1.36 billion population, every Indian hospital gets to have enough patients towards capacity utilization and there by building enough economies of scale to keep the cost low.
Thus, it is not cutting corners but low input cost that ensures an affordable healthcare in India. A Living donor liver transplant which may have a long waiting time in USA does not only cost 1/5th of the cost but has absolutely not waiting time.
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