The Healthcare sector seems to have finally come into its own. Just like what the demonetisation did to the e-payments industry few years back, the pandemic could have the same effect for the healthcare sector. Post the pandemic, not only has the awareness and need for healthcare has gone up manifold among the people, the sheer number of opportunities, which it has thrown up augers very well for the companies operating in this space. Apart from traditional avenues like medical care and health insurance, the lockdown has further opened new avenues like e-commerce and online consulting, which hitherto was unheard of in this sector.

IAA organised an incredibly informative webinar on 25th June 2021, under its IAA's Knowledge & Intelligence series - The Healthcare Sector, has its time come? with the leaders representing the sector - from OTC products, diagnostic services & value added services and e-commerce to understand their perspective, see how they are making best use of the opportunity and also, what opportunity it throws up for the marketing / advertising / media sector.

The panellists were Bharath Uppiliappan (CEO, Dr Lal Path Labs), Navneet Saluja (MD, GSK Consumer Healthcare) & Sumit Sinha (CEO & Co-Founder, Phable Care). Ashok Venkatramani (IAA Mancom Member) moderated the session.

Giving his views on the subject Sumit Sinha, CEO & Co-Founder, Phable Care quoted “People have started using technology for their healthcare needs, and new entrepreneurs should take note of this. I do believe medical e-commerce is here to stay and grow”

“I believe the healthcare industry is going to go through a massive change. COVID has taught all multinationals a big lesson, there should be a balance between how global they should be & how local they should be” said Navneet Saluja, MD, GSK Consumer Healthcare

Bharath Uppiliappan, CEO, Dr Lal Path Labs mentioned “There are a few specific medical areas we are focused on: Chronic care, Senior citizens & Building a strong CRM looking at data in a structured fashion. Organizing vaccination at diagnostic labs is slightly tricky because post-vaccine complications can occur & the liability falls on the person who vaccinates. We need to have the correct infrastructure in case if such a situation occurs”  

Ashok Venkatramani thanked the panellists for providing all with their thoughts and insights on the transformation of the healthcare industry!