Dr. Milind Antani, Darren Punnen and Shreya Shenolikar of Nishith Desai Associates have analysed the key regulations applicable to the Indian pharma, medical device and health-tech industry in a multi-part podcast series. The series starts off with the basics of pharmaceutical and medical device regulation and subsequently delves deeper into the regulation of various aspects of the industry. Each episode begins with an overview of applicable regulation, how the regulation applies to the industry and ends by providing some practical inputs on how stakeholders should approach this space. 

Episode Introduction: The Indian Government has identified the attainment of universal healthcare as one of the long-term goals in the healthcare space in the National Health Policy, 2017 (NHP). The NHP also identifies digital health as a key means of achieving this goal. Since the release of the NHP, the Indian Government has released various initiatives both towards increasing healthcare coverage in India as well as towards adopting digital health technologies. 

To make universal health coverage a reality, the Indian Government has also announced the world’s largest health insurance scheme in India titled the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (Prime Minister’s Public Health Scheme), popularly referred to as Ayushman Bharat (Healthy India). 

In this podcast, Shreya Shenolikar analyses the existing and proposed healthcare policy in India to understand when universal healthcare can truly be a reality. More specifically, she discusses:

• An overview of how healthcare services are provided in India.

• The role of government hospitals and private hospitals in providing healthcare to the general public. 

• The manner of healthcare law and policy is legislated in India, including why there are such disparities in healthcare regulation across the country.

• An overview of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and the National Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases.

• The progress made so far toward adopting digital health technologies and the policies published in pursuance of the same.