Panaji, 30 January,2020: India has made significant strides in healthcare over the last few decades, with key indicators of health outcomes showing marked improvement. Various government initiatives have mobilized communities on health, and large scale health financing initiatives have enabled access to the private sector for all sections of the population. However, India’s out of pocket expenditure (OOP) constitutes more than 60% of all health expenses which is a major drawback in a country like India where a large segment of the population is economically backward.

To bring clarity on the matter, Goa Institute of Management (GIM) is organizing a conference on the theme - Accelerating and Sustaining Investments for Financing India’s Healthcare Needs – where

thought leaders representing Government, Industry and Academia will deliberate and discuss on the matter. The conference will be held on the 08th of February 2020 at Taj Vivanta Panaji.

Two panel discussions will set the tone of the conference. One will discuss ‘Challenges and Opportunities in the current healthcare Investment Climate in India’ while the other will discuss ‘Disruptive trends that impact cost of Healthcare’. Both of them would help converge varied ideas, opinions and possible solutions for this wicked problem.

Dignitaries at the conference will include the Chief Guest Shri Vishwajit P. Rane, Honorable Minister of Health, Government of Goa while Dr. Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB - PMJAY) and National Health Authority (NHA), Government of India will be the key note speaker.

Guests of Honour include Hon Brig. Dr. Arvind Lal (Padma Shri), Chairman and Managing Director, Dr. Lal PathLabs and Mr. R Chandrashekhar, Chairman, Centre for The Digital Future, Former Secretary Electronics & IT, GOI Former Chairman Telecom Commission and Secretary, Department of Telecom, GOI, Former President, NASSCOM

Other speakers at the conference are Mr. Alok Kumar, Advisor, NITI Ayog, Government of India;

Dr. H Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, MHEPL and Medical Advisory Board, Manipal Hospitals Group; Mr. Sanjay Murdeshwar, Managing Director, Novartis, India, Mr. Nalinikant Gollagunta, President & CEO, GE Healthcare – South Asia; Managing Director – Wipro GE and Mr. R Chandrashekhar, Chairman, Centre for The Digital Future, Former Secretary Electronics & IT, GOI Former Chairman Telecom Commission and Secretary, Department of Telecom, GOI, Former President, NASSCOM, among others.

Dr. Ajit Parulekar, Director Goa Institute of Management said “The second edition of the conference will further GIM’s objective of being a management thought-promoter and providing a platform for meaningful discussions in the healthcare domain. We hope that the attending executives and business leaders will have significant takeaways from the discussions that will take place among the gathered thought leaders in the domain.”