Accent on investment in medical research and development

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan emphasizes government and private sector investment in research and development for advancing healthcare in India.

Soumya Swaminathan, chairperson, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and former chief scientist, World Health Organization, on Tuesday stressed the need for investment in research and development for India to advance in the field of medicine.

“The government has to play a very major role, particularly for basic science investment. The government has been gradually increasing investment. There is now the ANRF (Anusandhan National Research Foundation) but here the government expects the private sector to come in. It is a ₹50,000 crore programme but 37.5% of that will come from the government and the rest has to come from the private sector. So, private sector investment in research and development in our country has been low and needs to definitely go up,” she said. She was taking part in a session on ‘Transforming Healthcare, Concept to Cure’ organised at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s ‘Mystic South’, global linkages summit.

Noting that there has to be an enabling environment, she said policies for promoting research are needed. “We know that cutting-edge technologies offer tremendous possibilities but also have some risks and downsides,” she said, raising the need for a regulatory and ethical framework.

She called for solutions for issues such as air pollution. “These solutions can come from the private sector. Of course, the government also plays a very major role as environmental risks to our health are huge and also relates to diet,” Dr. Soumya Swaminathan added.

“While India is a food-secure country, we cannot say it is nutrition-secure as data shows that less than 50% of Indians are getting what is defined as healthy diet by the National Institute of Nutrition, and this could be due to affordability and accessibility issues,” she said, adding that there are certain basic issues that need to be addressed urgently.

Krishna Bodanapu, executive vice-chairman and managing director, Cyient, and chairman, Cyient DLM, said the adoption of technology in healthcare has accelerated in the last 10 years. “Artificial Intelligence is another tool in the toolkit of clinicians to help in diagnosis,” he said.

Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy, chief executive officer, Rela Institute and Medical Centre, said patients from 50 countries come to Chennai for treatment of liver diseases and liver transplants. Expectations of patients have gone up, he said, adding that along with accessibility, affordability and better clinical outcomes, patients also expected comfort and experience. Technology and innovation are needed to address all these expectations, he said.