Five ways pharmaceutical and healthcare can be ‘Modified’

The Lok Sabha election results did not affect the pharma stocks but the Modi government can impact the pharma and healthcare sectors in several ways.GDP spend on healthcare: Increasing the expenditure on healthcare can be the most impactful measure that the government can undertake. The additional funds would be required for spending on strengthening the primary healthcare infrastructure and building upon the secondary and tertiary public healthcare setup. India spends 1.15 per cent of its GDP on healthcare and the government has targeted to increase it to 2.5 per cent by 2025.Ayushman Bharat: The ambitious insurance scheme slated to provide secondary and tertiary care to the poor (constituting nearly 40 per cent of the country’s population) was Modi government’s first step towards aiming universal healthcare for India. However, economic sustainability of the scheme and provision of quality healthcare services to the poor in remote areas are challenges that must be overcome. The scheme requires sustained funding, proactive participation from the private sector and diligent execution to succeed.Institutional reforms: The pharma, medical and healthcare sectors are awaiting urgent reforms in terms of governance. For instance, there is no exclusive ministry governing these sectors. The pharma sector is regulated partly by ministry of chemicals and fertilisers and partly by the ministry of health and family welfare. The Medical Council of India needs to give way to an institution that better regulates the medical practice and education in India.Improving the regulatory oversight: Regulatory oversight on drug makers (pharma companies), drug sellers (pharmacies) and drug prescribers (doctors) needs to increase. While the US drug regulator pulls up Indian pharma companies for discrepancies in their manufacturing — India needs to strengthen its drug regulatory mechanism to ensure the quality of drugs sold locally is as good as the ones that are exported. A legally binding directive to regulate marketing practices needs to be promulgated since the voluntary Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices has proved to be ineffective.Clarity on the policy front: The sectors would benefit getting clarity on the government’s stance on issues like promotion of generic drugs, extent of price control on drugs and devices, legality of fixed drug combinations, induction of Ayush doctors to meet the healthcare staff shortage and policy incentives for research and development as well as drug exports.

from Economic Times http://bit.ly/30PVWHb