On 19th September 2015, the 3rd AmCham Healthcare Conference was held with an underlying theme of “Improving Healthcare Access to Reduce Disease Burden in India.”

India is in the midst of a healthcare revolution, one that is being driven by, among other factors, government structural reforms, unprecedented growth in private investment, and patients who demand higher standards of care. There were 3 panel discussion led by experts in their respective field within the healthcare domain.

The conference began with a welcome address by Kiranmai Pendyala, Vice Chairperson, AmCham Hyderabad Chapter and Corp VP HRD, AMD. Mr. Michael Mullins the U.S. Consul General spoke on the progress of India in bringing down infant mortality rate through immunization, vaccination etc. but there is still a lot to be done to bring about awareness of NCD which is growing. Also, Mr. Ratan Jalan of Medium Consulting gave the landscape of healthcare.

The first panel discussion was on healthcare awareness and prevention which was moderated by Dr. Sanjeev Upadhyaya, Health Specialist, UNICEF. The panel discussed the importance and significance of health awareness and disease prevention. The panelists offered their valuable insights on preventive health strategies and shared their experiences in this regard, from the public health as well as private health care perspective. The panel summarized that awareness, prevention and access will help in bringing down the spread of disease. The panel focused on communication and how it helps in bring about a desired behavior.

The second panel discussion was on healthcare delivery moderated by Mr. Joseph Nicholas, CEO & President of American Oncology Institute in India. The focus was on ways in which providers are creating successful innovative models ranging from home healthcare, dialysis, transition care and high-end lab services, to meet Indian consumers’ demands for high-value, patient-centric, healthcare, which is not only focused on treatment of disease but also on healthy lifestyles and preventative care.

The post lunch key note session by Dr. Balaji Utla, CEO Piramal Swasthya and CEO HMRI was an eye opener, while talking about the increase of NCD and the burden in the coming years, he mentioned that access is about mobility, technology, solution, affordability and availability. He also spoke on the 7S approach – which is saturate, segment, stay the course, sevabhaav, synergy, systems and scale/speed.

The final session for the day was on healthcare innovation moderated by Nick Mitchell, MD, Phenomenex India. The panel highlighted some of the developing success stories and sought to gain insight into how various innovation models are propelling research and development further ahead with shorter timelines by taking advantage of some of India’s creative methodologies, particularly in the diagnosis sector and also about the role of regulations in fostering innovation. The conference was attended by industry and students of MBA Healthcare.