'Life Sciences 4.0: Transforming Health Care in India' report out - Here are key findings of EY survey

EY has announced the launch of the report ‘Life Sciences 4.0: transforming health care in India’ at BioAsia 2019, Hyderabad. The report highlights how technology is disrupting the health care ecosystem in India in the wake of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0).  According to the report, rising prevalence of lifestyle related diseases and an aging population are the major factors leading to increasing demand of specialised health care in India. However, the report claims that Indian health care system currently lacks sufficient infrastructure to meet the health care demands of the country. 

The report states that the Indian health care system is being reshaped by three forces:-

- Increasing health care demand
- Technological ubiquity 
- Rising patient awareness

Key takeaways from the survey

- 82% of life sciences and healthcare start-ups offer improved affordability, accessibility and efficiency in their products and services leveraging emerging technology

 - 18% of life sciences and healthcare start-ups have unique products and services

- The key challenge for life sciences and healthcare start-ups is receiving funding, followed by lack of understanding of regulatory processes and difficulty in collaborating with bigger life sciences players

- Owing to challenges in partnering with bigger companies, 71% of the start-ups mentioned that they have collaborated with comparatively smaller or mid-size companies with revenues <INR 100 crores
 
Reacting to the report, Sriram Shrinivasan, Global Emerging Markets Health and Life Sciences Leader and National Health Services Sector Leader, EY, says, “Today, in India and globally, technological advancements are redefining products and enabling customization of services in the health care industry. Emerging technologies (e.g., robotics, blockchain, 3D printing and artificial intelligence) and scientific breakthroughs such as gene editing have led to the transformation of life sciences companies’ business models. Going forward, life sciences companies must invest in the three new capabilities: personalization, customer engagement and data literacy.”

“Digital health care is one of the key focus areas under the umbrella of the government’s digital initiatives. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has several initiatives designed to deliver better health outcomes and the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ program is another initiative towards ensuring better access, improved quality and affordable health care to the citizens of India,” adds Sriram Shrinivasan.