Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya, on Saturday said that the global model of healthcare cannot apply to India, as globally, it is approached as a commercial initiative while in India, the same is approached from the perspective of “seva” (service).
Delivering the keynote speech at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) Healthcare Summit, 2023, Mandaviya maintained that multinational corporations want to invest in India because India is a democratic country.
“World has its own model, India has its own model because in India, the perspective with which healthcare is looked at is different. For the world, it may be commerce but for India, health is seva… During Covid-19 pandemic, we completed not only our requirement but also made available vaccines and drugs to 150 other countries.”
“…Whenever there is any pivotal incident, the world changes… After World War II, a new world order had come with a new thought… After 75 years, in the new order… we are seeing India’s capability. Today, when I talk to the world, the whole world says that even if it is expensive, they want to do business with India because India is a trusted partner,” Mandaviya said.
He added, “When the world was stockpiling vaccines, India was helping the world. When the world was concerned about commerce amid a crisis, a medicine like Remdesivir that cost about Rs 1,000… Pankajbhai (Patel, chairman of Zydus Lifesciences) made it available to the country and the world at around Rs 100… They want to do business in India, invest in India.”
While Mandaviya stressed on the need for research and innovation, Pankaj Patel – who is on the IIMA board of governors – said: “While things do seem to be progressing for start-ups… there are some challenges that need to be addressed in terms of regulatory framework or competition.”
