Health care and pharmacology sector must join hands to develop affordable drugs: Dinesh Trivedi
	19:26 IST

Union Minister of State for Health Shri Dinesh Trivedi, has called for greater ‘preparedness’ as regards health care processes and systems. Inaugurating the 7th Global Knowledge Millennium Summit organized by ASSOCHAM, here today, on the subject, Bio-Pharma- ‘Emerging Health Threats-The solution?’ Shri Trivedi said,” The redesign of health care processes & systems is now a primary focus for Pharma and healthcare providers across India. As we continue to face the challenge of responding to rising demands placed on health care services, we are becoming increasingly aware that building bigger institutions or businesses is not the solution. What is needed is ‘preparedness’, quality care and a joint effort to lay a platform where we all stand together should such situation arise. There is a need for more public private partnerships and collaboration not only between organizations but between nations.” Shri Trivedi underlined that drugs should be available to treat all diseases and medical conditions at an affordable rate. He said, “Newer drugs were needed to treat infectious diseases in view of the emerging drug resistance. The health care and pharmacology sector should join hands to develop such drugs. Even the West was looking at India as a centre for clinical trials as it had about 200 medical colleges, 15,000 hospitals and world class laboratories. “ The Minister said that the Indian economic boom has been characterized by a few sectors which have been front-runners of which one sector is Healthcare. The striking feature about the Indian Healthcare sector is that it has the potential to grow at a much faster rate in the foreseeable future and shall present new ‘sectors of opportunity’ within healthcare, which shall emerge as growth drivers, he added. Shri Trivedi ponted out the need of Public-Private Partnerships in the secondary and tertiary health care systems in the country. He said, “Although government hospitals have good infrastructure in terms of land and buildings, a majority of them need better management processes and efficiency in managing these facilities. This is necessary for quality healthcare service delivery. Moreover government focus is on primary healthcare in rural areas thereby neglecting the growth of secondary and tertiary healthcare. It is now becoming imperative that public –private partnerships are the solutions to augment resources for growth of secondary and tertiary healthcare systems in the country. The private sector has now developed managerial capabilities, which can be leveraged to enhance the efficiency of government infrastructure and meet national goals of access and equity in healthcare.” MV:ST:CP:health26.11.2009