Retail healthcare catches on

The trend that began with food, moved on to clothes and has now reached medicine. Primary healthcare going retail is catching on as a formula for corporate healthcare majors.

This is more like the trend in the US where McMedicine, as it is known there, is fast becoming popular.

There has been an increasing awareness of medical checkups as a consequence of which preventive health checkups are catching on. There has been a great need felt for primary healthcare facilities at all levels despite the government setting up a healthcare delivery network.

According to Sandeep Sinha, programme manager (Healthcare Practice), Frost & Sullivan, opportunity is huge in metros and secondary cities because of the good penetration of insurance, employment opportunity and development.

"The retail health will be driven more around preventive health. Some 1,000 retail healthcare outlets are expected to be set up across India in the next three years," he added.

The major groups joining in the retail healthcare rush are Manipal, Fortis, Apollo, Dabur, Gold Shield, Futures Group, Reliance, AVB, Bharti, Max among others.

On what drives the trend, Sinha, said, "Preventive healthcare is being driven by the healthcare insurance, pre-insurance health check-ups, pre-employment health check-ups and corporate health check-ups."

Somnath Das, COO, Manipal Cure and Care, pointed out that the retail industry will ride on healthcare. "The amount expected to be invested in business though varies from person to person," he added.

According to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda), only 2 per cent of the population is covered by insurance.

S Krishnamurthy CEO, TTK Healthcare Services said, "Retail healthcare will encourage insurance firms to device products to meet diverse needs. For instance, insurance products for senior citizens will be different from those meant for the younger populace."

TTK Healthcare Services is one of the biggest third party administrators in the country and Swiss Re holds a 26 per cent stake in it.

With insurance firms driving the industry, it will also ensure quality control. "In future we may also have ratings for hospitals based on the quality of service and facilities offered. We may see a standardisation of the charges too in future," added Krishnamurthy.

Insurance companies prefer preventive healthcare rather than reimbursing the cost of treatment, say analysts.