Privatise Indian healthcare, but cautiously: US experts

NEW YORK: Needing over $20 billion to build healthcare infrastructure, India would inevitably have to privatise healthcare but it should check the profit motive that has bedevilled the system in the US, experts said at a conference here.

The conference also discussed the possibility of the US and India partnering in drug discovery, generic production and marketing as well as biotechnology.

Observer Research Foundation (ORF) adviser, healthcare, Falguni Sen, cited a 2002 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-McKinsey report as saying that the health sector in India is expected to grow from $30 billion to $40 billion by 2012, but requires fresh investment of around $25 billion in the next few years to establish quality healthcare facilities.