The Knowledge to Decide

With the launch of Practo Ray – a customized mobile application for healthcare services – Asia’s leading healthcare platform, known as Practo, has expanded its service range in the Indian market. The app will provide specialty specific modules for dentists, physicians and pediatricians. Moreover, the Practo Ray-Pediatricians feature further enables timely immunization of children with regular reminder notification and using 5 automated World Health Organization (WHO) standard growth charts. The Practo Ray-Physicians feature will also enable doctors to digitally generate lab reports as well as prescribe lab tests, signaling a potential for more lifestyle apps to be released. Is India stepping into the era of digitalized healthcare? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/mobile-healthcare-app-launched-in-india/

What if a scanner could detect diseases even before a patient shows symptoms? The revolutionary break-through by Nanobiosym – a company based in Cambridge – provides handheld diagnostic machines that use nanotechnology to identify a range of serious diseases such as HIV in minutes. The precision control technology enables the diagnosis of a disease using genetic fingerprints in real-time. For instance, the device can detect the Ebola virus even before symptoms are visible in patients. With over 4 billion people worldwide who do not have access to basic healthcare, this kind of innovation can be a critical life-saver. Can nanotechnology revolutionize the detection of life-threatening diseases in real-time? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/the-nanotech-disease-detector/

The Dubai-based, ABV Group – a chain of luxury hospitals – has set its sights to establish luxury hospitals in India. These hospitals would offer personalized care and transportation in Rolls Royce for its patients – catering to the rich. . With just 50 suites and no option of shared rooms within a hospital, the promise of a crowd-free environment is quite alluring. Away from the glorified government hospitals norm, there will be no mixing between patients or long queues. Such initiatives aim to attract more medical tourists to the country as well as generate finances to drive charity initiatives. With approximately USD80 million in investments to execute this vision, the first luxury hospital will be operational in Mumbai by early 2017, followed by another in New Delhi. How will the rise of luxury hospitals change healthcare industry in India? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/india-to-witness-hospital-treatment-in-style/

Shanghai is set to become the next hub for quality healthcare services as new hospitals collaborate with established industry players. Will Chinese medical tourists check in at home for medical treatment? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights in the Asian version of Japan’s Nikkei newspaper. Home to a population of 23 million – where 53% of the population is middle class and above – the city of Shanghai continues to lure more foreign investors in the healthcare segment for the affluent. Raffles Medical Group, Singapore’s premium private healthcare provider, has set foot in Shanghai with its first overseas hospital, part of a wider trend of premium healthcare service providers setting up shop in the city. Perera highlighted that the growth in healthcare services has been fuelled by the government’s policy shift to allow more foreign ownership of hospitals. The intent behind this is perhaps to retain some of the 60,000 me

Indonesia has emerged as an attractive healthcare market. The industry has surged by 300% since 2005, with national healthcare expenditure reaching USD26 billion in 2014. Recognizing the investment potential, the South East Asia (SEA) Hospital Expansion Summit 2015 gathered industry leaders and government officials to discuss opportunities and challenges in this sector. Jeffrey Bahar, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Spire Research and Consulting group, was invited as a guest speaker at the South East Asia Hospital Expansion Summit 2015. In his presentation, Bahar gave a brief overview of Indonesia’s healthcare sector, focusing on investment prospects for private firms. Bahar mentioned that in 2012, Indonesians spent around USD11.5 billion (yearly) for healthcare services abroad. Wealthy Indonesians still opt for medical treatment overseas to treat complicated conditions, preferring medical tourism destinations like India, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. To promote

India is struggling to provide adequate healthcare to its rural citizens. However, necessity spawns innovation. Several Indian hospitals have taken the initiative to work with globally trained specialists to reform existing healthcare approaches. Some Indian hospitals have devised a business model which will enable them to provide world class facilities at affordable rates. The model will enhance revenue generation and hence sustainability in rural hospitals through funds raised from wealthy patients – reducing the burden on the government. According to the Economics of National Security Bureau, the Indian government spends only USD43 on healthcare per person while 70% of healthcare expenses are usually borne by individuals and families. Is India’s Robin Hood healthcare business model set to revolutionize rural healthcare? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/better-healthcare-access-for-the-rural-poor-in-india/