Health may bring wealth!

Healthcare sector contributes more than 5 per cent to India’s GDP and is expected to display a healthy growth rate over the next four to five years. Now, that should interest you if you are a medical practitioner or if you have an entrepreneurial aptitude. You might find it lucrative if you belong to the second category.

With a growing population, greater awareness of health issues amongst corporate entities and consumers, increasing spending power, and a rise in lifestyle diseases, the demand far exceeds the supply for healthcare. This establishes the immense potential that the sector possesses.

Of course, professionals from the medical and paramedical fields will benefit from it directly. There is a lot in store for entrepreneurs also, even those, who are not directly associated with the healthcare industry.

Whenever an industry or a sector develops, it gives a boost to other ancillary industries along with itself. Dev Chakravarty, Assistant Manager - Research at AMI-Partners, India says, “At a glance, we can see how the entire ecosystem is also evolving. With the rapid entry of corporate entities in this sector several private organisations have made a mark in terms of setting up and managing hospitals.”

Some of the areas which you can find a place in are:

Automation/IT services - India’s healthcare sector is set to spend over USD 250 million on IT in 2010, says a study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc., a leading consulting firm specialising in IT and telecom sectors.

As hospitals build and upgrade their IT infrastructure, spending on basic computing products will increase. Hospitals of different sizes are striving for total automation through integration software such as Hospital Management/Hospital Information Systems (HMS/HIS). Softwares such as patient records, patient registration, scheduling, billing, monitoring, inventory management, etc will be required by all of them.

So if you are an IT/software company you might want to brace yourself up and think of solutions that you might have to offer them.

Managerial backing – IT services will not be the only industry that will derive benefit from the healthcare sector growth. Managing a hospital, training the staff, making the hospital known to the world etc will be other substantial things that are to be done.

If you have expertise in the managerial fields that can help a hospital function, this might be one of the ancillary industries that you can be a part of.

Logistical backing – Logistical backing is another important support that the healthcare industry will require.

There are several factors which will assist in continuing the growth of this sector. Private organisations play a significant role in providing healthcare services, especially in the urban sector. This area expects strong financial backing and managerial expertise. With the growth of the Indian middle class, there is a shift towards private healthcare services. And the health insurance sector is maturing, offering greater scope and reach. India's medical tourism is also booming.