India has been awarded a 'Polio Free' status by way of an official certification presented by the World Health Organisation (WHO). India is among other countries in the South East Asian region which have been certified as being free of the polio virus.
India's primary competitive advantage over its peers lies in its large pool of well-trained medical professionals. Also, India's cost advantage compared to peers in Asia and Western countries is significant - cost of surgery in India is one-tenth of that in the US or Western Europe.
The coming years will see great out-of-the-box thinking by the strategists in the field of healthcare, beginning with the way healthcare is delivered.To begin with, a rise in retail clinics, single speciality, secondary and tertiary care centres are seen coming to the fore including the recent examples of NOVA day care, BEAMS and Apollo clinics.
The tier II/III cities have suddenly become attractive to the healthcare players, especially because of the tax sops and increasing disposable incomes among Indian families across the country and dearth of quality healthcare infrastructure in these locations, which generates tremendous opportunities for the people.
