{"id":16871,"date":"2012-05-08T15:15:43","date_gmt":"2012-05-08T14:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=16871"},"modified":"2012-05-08T15:17:56","modified_gmt":"2012-05-08T14:17:56","slug":"devi-shetty-india-will-become-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-dissociate-health-care-from-affluence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2012\/05\/08\/devi-shetty-india-will-become-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-dissociate-health-care-from-affluence\/","title":{"rendered":"Devi Shetty: India will become the first country in the world to dissociate health care from affluence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I believe\u00a0the economy of the 21st century will be driven by the health sector. The economy of the 20th century was driven by machines which addressed human toil. The health sector can create millions of jobs for the extremely skilled, semi skilled, and unskilled workers.<\/p>\n

These jobs are\u00a0 vital for the stability of society.\u00a0 Lack of employment is the root cause of unrest in the world today.\u00a0 The health sector is also in a unique position to create millions of jobs for women. A woman coming from lower economic strata becomes empowered when she finds employment.\u00a0 Empowered women will discipline and educate their children, who will in turn have the discipline and desire to build a great nation when they grow up.<\/p>\n

We believe India will become the first country in the world to dissociate health care from affluence. Ten years down the line we will still have millions of people living in the slums with no amenities.\u00a0 However, they will have access to high tech health care with dignity.\u00a0 India can do it because India produces the largest number of doctors, nurses, and medical technicians in the world. Outside the US India has the largest number of US FDA approved drug manufacturing units. Our only missing link is that poor people don’t have the money to pay for healthcare. This can be addressed by micro health insurance.<\/p>\n

We launched such a scheme eight years ago. The Yeshaswini micro health insurance scheme proved that with just US$0.11 \u2013yes that is just 11 cents\u00a0per month \u2013 we can even, for example,\u00a0cover the cost of major heart surgery. Yeshaswini now has more than 3 million farmers contributing 22 cents per month. It covers the expenses of 1650 different varieties of surgeries done on the human body.\u00a0 We believe that government will gradually become a health insurance provider, rather than just being a healthcare provider.<\/p>\n

I believe\u00a0tax-payers\u2019 money can’t pay for healthcare as life expectancy is increasing.\u00a0 We are now trying to develop a concept of health insurance through mobile phones. We have 750m Indians paying at least\u00a0\u00a0150 rupees\u00a0per month just to speak on a mobile phone. If we can charge an extra\u00a010 rupees per month towards an insurance premium, we will have the world\u2019s largest self sustaining health insurance scheme.<\/p>\n

The cost of healthcare in developed countries will not come down unless Asia, Africa, and Latin America, develop a robust\u00a0delivery model. Developing countries will provide the critical volume required for medical equipment, the\u00a0 disposables, and the drug manufacturers, to bring their prices down. This is exactly how the cost of mobile phones dropped.<\/p>\n

I believe that the poor quality of healthcare in Africa is not because\u00a0it is poor, but because\u00a0it does not\u00a0have an adequate number of institutions to train doctors, nurses, and medical technicians. I would like to build low cost hospitals across Africa and conduct training programmes to train the healthcare manpower that is needed to deliver a high quality provision such as I am already offering at my Bangalore “health city.”<\/p>\n

Our intention is to develop a global university to train these health workers. The World Health Organization estimates that there is a shortage of 4m healthcare workers across the world.\u00a0Even that figure is an underestimate. We already run a programme that supports and motivates 2000 children from rural India to become doctors every year. Thirteen year old children from village schools get a scholarship of $US10\u00a0per month if they promise to become doctors when they grow up. We also help them get a student loan to finance their education.<\/p>\n

It is through innovative schemes like these and others that\u00a0 the healthcare of the entire world\u2019s population can be transformed in the future. This isn\u2019t just a dream \u2013 it is something we are already turning into practical reality here in India as can be seen in Al Jazeera\u2019s series about our Bangalore health city.<\/p>\n