Questioning Healthcare Affordability & IPR

Affordability is essentially the term for something 'Costing less than expected'.

Few questions here -

1) Should we expect poor quality from cheap and affordable services? ?

2) What do we mean by the term 'access to healthcare"??

2a. Access to a physician while you need a pediatrician.... Is it access ?

2b. Access to a doctor while not having the means to purchase the medicines. Is it access ?

2c. Access to a consultation but expensive treatment, more than INR 5 lakh. Will Ayushman Coverage still save you ? Is your coverage enough ?

2d. Access to post-treatment care

3) What do you mean by Quality Access to Healthcare Services ?

3a) Comfortable and seamless ambulatory services

3b) Do you maintain past medical records file ?

3c) Are you treated with 'Informed Consent' ?

Do you know that the GDP in India regarding healthcare is just 3%?

That is where we will talk about Innovation & Affordability.

It is required that we have robust PPPs (public-private partnerships). It is necessary to appreciate and encourage more frugal innovation, like low-cost medical devices or telemedicine platforms, which should be monitored, of course. By sharing knowledge and Open Source Initiatives, we can benefit from global expertise while at same time avoiding expensive licensing fees. This can be supplemented by local manufacturing, which can lighten the import burden for essential medicines and equipment. Not only this, HTA (Health Technology Assessment) can help prioritize interventions that provide the maximum health impact per rupee spent. The innovation can further be supported by research grants and incentives, thus providing affordable healthcare solutions, further supported by inclusive regulatory reforms that can balance safety with timely and qualitative access to healthcare. Data-driven decision-making can help leverage data analytics to optimize resource allocation.

India can utilize TRIPS flexibilities, thereby allowing her to tailor patent rules to cater to public health needs while adding domestic innovations. The Draft Patents (Amendments) Rules, 2023, introduce significant changes, including fees for pre-grant opposition filings and centralization of authority under the patent controller. These amendments may impact India’s generic pharmaceutical industry and access to life-saving medications. India faces pressure from developed nations regarding IPR enforcement. Balancing global equity and ensuring access to healthcare solutions is critical. Transparent and well-enforced IP rules help combat counterfeit medicines. India must address this parallel threat to public health.

The IPR Culture in India is in Catastrophe because of following reasons -

1) Lack of IP Valuation, IP Insurance culture. We generate IP assets, register them and leave them at their perils.

2) Lack of Research in Healthcare equipments & affordable medicines, shifting our focus to generic medicines.

3) Intervention of AI and copyleft movements affecting the Healthcare industry and research processes, thereby weaking the foundation of IPR- Benefit to creator.

4) Poor HMIS implementation and patient data handling, sharing.

IP development is data driven, right from Audit to Commercialization.