Media Release

Udupi, Aug 24: T A Pai Management institute (TAPMI), Manipal, witnessed some doyens of Healthcare industry, at the Healthcare Conference Abhyudaya, on August 18, 2012. The conference was organized as a part of TAPMI’s initiative to explore new vistas in the Health sector and examine how Healthcare and Academia interact with each other.

Dr R C Natarajan, director TAPMI, welcomed the audience and stressed the importance of Healthcare in India. He tracked its development from embryonic stage to what it is today. With that, he set the stage for the Guest of Honour, Dr Vinod Bhat, Pro-Vice Chancellor Manipal University and the chief guest, Rajen Padukone, CEO Manipal Healthcare.

Dr Bhat, brought his extensive experience to the fore to expound on the challenges that India is facing. Highlighting the number of cases of Malaria, Tuberculosis and the high occurrence of maternal deaths, he dealt with the enormity of the challenge.

Praising the structure of the Indian healthcare sector, he underlined the importance of implementation of various policies. He also shared how Manipal Trust implemented a three tier healthcare structure in and around Udupi and its success.

Padukone, made a detailed presentation on the business aspects of the industry. Highlighting its constantly changing nature, he bought out various challenges faced by the Medical fraternity today. He illustrated how the population growth in the Country, will drive the demand in future for the sector.

He also explained how the prevalence of lifestyle diseases in today’s times, the entry of private equity funds in the health industry, the collaboration of real estate companies and hospitals and the emergence of medical value travellers from foreign nations, all bode well for the industry in the future.

The immensely informative introductory session was followed by an enlightening panel discussion on challenges that are being faced by the Indian Pharmaceutical industry. Moderated by Professor Vinod Madhavan, the discussion featured stalwarts, both from academics and the industry.

The pharmaceutical industry was represented by Shankar Das, president, Dr Reddy’s Labs and Sagar Pawar, senior consultant, PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Later, Dr Sivakumar, professor, TAPMI, gave the academic perspective in the discussion.

Myriad topics, ranging from generic drugs, changing marketing requirements, the exponential growth in the Indian rural market to the role of the Government and its regulations were debated and discussed.  The students were also educated in niche topics like pharmaceutical innovations and processes.

The session was succeeded by another panel discussion on the convergence of technology and healthcare and its sustainability in Indian context.

Sachin Chaudhury, Vice–President Health-care, Genpact and Dr Nitin Verma, vice president, m-healthcare Religare addressed the audience on the various aspects of computer and mobile technology and its applications in Healthcare.

They spoke about the technological impairments amongst the rural population and elaborated on the challenges faced in terms of the ageing population and resource constraints. They opined that the convergence of telecommunication and healthcare would solve the problem of medical accessibility and deliver secondary and tertiary medical expertise to rural areas.

The conference concluded with sessions on the “Role of Hospitals in Healthcare delivery in rural India” by Dr Bhargava, senior operations manager at Vaatsalya Healthcare Solutions Pvt Ltd, South Karnataka and ‘Redefining patient experience by managerial excellence’ by P Dwarkanath, director group, Human Capital, Max Healthcare.