Home Health Care becomes a very essential need to many lives in the world, especially in developing countries like India. Home Health Care growth 3 times more within a decade in India and it becomes very strong among the healthcare industries in India. The affordability, personalized care, and rise in nuclear family structures are the primary reasons for this upward trend. Due to nuclear and informal support have been unable to adequately fulfil the demand for care of post-operative patients, chronic patients and elderly care. The growth of elderly populations and there are many qualities of institutionalised care, the family caregivers are becoming demanding to provide care for their loved ones in India. Being more informed of market services these days, they are not willing to settle for traditional and unorganised section options. Thus, India’s growth in the home healthcare sector is on the rise and it becomes critical to understand the country’s stance in the global market as well. This would help identify further opportunities while simultaneously tackling key challenges.
Social factors to growing demand
The elderly population in India is the second largest in the world. Additionally, they require constant and personal care which is usually unavailable in formal hospital settings. The existing informal structures prevalent today in hospitals are unable to cope with taking care of chronic patients and the elderly. Higher levels of perceived stress, social isolation, lack of work-life balance and negative impact on the emotional well-being of the family caregivers are other factors that are contributing to the growing demand for homecare.
Regulations and Standards of Home Health Care
The government expenditure on healthcare in India is one of the lowest when compared to developed countries like the US and UK, or even developing ones like China. The government thus needs to proactively create policies and set standards to regularize the home health care industry. They must also set up accreditation and quality certification agencies to certify the service providers, protect consumers and improve service standards.
The quality and qualification of the workforce in the unorganized sector needs to be addressed on priority by improving the supply of trained staff for homecare. In addition, a formal regulatory framework has helped increase demand and restored trust in medical tourism in the country. The implementation of similar regulations, insurance and government expenditure in the home healthcare sector can increase demand while addressing the issue of shortage of beds and quality of treatment faced by healthcare institutions. This would thus lessen the burden on hospitals through readily available, affordable quality, and personal care at the comfort of one’s home.
The urgency of Home Health Care
The time has come for home healthcare to catapult in India. The urgency is apparent as hospitals are overstretched, especially in the critical and personalized care segments. A study by the ICMR reveals that while India accounts for 25% of the global disease burden, it accounts for merely 8% of global hospital beds and 10% share of doctors and nursing staff. Moreover, in a country where there is one doctor for every eight hundred people, nearly 40% the patients admitted to hospitals suffer from chronic diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite these grave circumstances, there is a massive number of people who fail to realize that while a patient admitted to the ICU in a hospital setting pays between Rs 45,000 to Rs 55,000 per day, a similar set up at home ranges from merely Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 per day. Home healthcare thus saves on real estate and infrastructure as the model effectively operates at 15% to 30% reduced costs in comparison to hospital expenses for similar treatment. A report by Cyber Media Research revealed that home healthcare has the potential to replace up to 70% of unnecessary hospital visits in India and reduce hospital costs by 30%.
The Determination of Home Health Care
The developed countries have a well-established and well-regulated network of homecare and hospice services for those in need including assisted living and basic geriatric healthcare services. elderly care at home India has begun the journey towards delivering quality healthcare at home. It is vital to strengthen India’s stance in the sector as our aim must be to rank as high as possible. The merits of homecare are evidently more affordable, convenient and comforting. Hence, formal and stringent regulatory frameworks become pivotal in addressing the grave home health sector in India.