Covid-19 in India forcing patients to go private
The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that is sweeping across India is forcing many patients to choose private healthcare
A new report by data analytics and research company GlobalData has exposed that even though India has more than doubled its spending on healthcare, both national and international residents are swerving public services and opting for private hospitals instead.
Who pays for healthcare in India?
Prashant Khadayate, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, said it’s left families struggling to pay hospital bills because costs can escalate quickly. “It’s a well-known fact that patients without sufficient insurance coverage have to bear the huge financial burden for treatments at private hospitals,” Khadayate said. “Covid-19 has exposed this dire situation at a broad level, with several families struggling to pay the hospital bills.”
According to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center, India has fully vaccinated just 7.5 per cent of its population and administered more than 461 million doses of the vaccine.
Around 30,000 expats are based in India according to Indian daily newspaper Mint and most people use private healthcare because state funding is so low. Expats are heavily encouraged to have international private medical insurance because expenses can escalate quickly.
Meanwhile, Max Bupa is partnering with Axis Bank to provide health insurance to customers of the bank in India. The collaboration between the two companies will allow customers, including expats, of the country's third-largest private sector bank to access better healthcare offered by Max Bupa.
The health insurer said it would provide indemnity and fixed benefit products, as well as bespoke variants to customers of the bank.
Last year, the company conducted a survey of 1,700 respondents and revealed that before the Covid-19 outbreak, only 10 per cent of people surveyed were interested in buying health insurance. However, post pandemic, 71 per cent considered health insurance as a necessity to mitigate unforeseen health risks.