The Indian healthcare sector is currently facing the most significant challenge with the ongoing, deadlier than ever wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. With thousands of people sharing the request for urgent assistance to find a bed, oxygen and ambulances from verified resources, it reflects just how bogged down the industry is in the current scenario. Fortunately, the present conditions have provided a significant fillip to industry players with tech-based new-age solutions, especially in the medical transportation space.

In the medical field, every step of the timely given treatment can literally save lives. At this juncture, well-equipped ambulances that can help treat patients while they are being transferred to a hospital or medical facility has, then, become highly crucial.

Concerted efforts by the government and industry players

Even before Coronavirus hit India, the healthcare sector was going through some major transitions. India, as a developing country, is still struggling to enhance its healthcare system. Although every year, the Indian budget allocation for the healthcare sector used to be one of the minuscule amounts allotted by any developing country. However, while announcing Union Budget 2021-22, the Indian Finance Minister proposed the healthcare budget of Rs 2,23,846 crores, which was 137% higher than the last budget allocation.

But, even with all this assistance, catering to the medical needs of over 1.38 billion people is not an easy task. With the increasing demand for hospitalization and continuous medical aid, the limited number of medical transportation provided by the government is not proving to be enough, and that’s where new healthcare logistics companies come into the picture. The new industry players are stepping in as the strong pillars of the Indian healthcare system.

The outsourced medical transport services have played an enormous role in the battle with the present ongoing conditions by catering to the growing needs of the citizens. These outpost medical transport services were able to play such a massive function in the current circumstances because of their experience in catering for the needs of citizens for the last few years.

It is essential to understand that the old Indian healthcare system required a more modern and tech-led, fully equipped medical transportation system, but they also needed more ambulances to get better accessibility. The most significant issue citizens face, especially those living in remote areas,  is the availability of required vehicles with standard resources. Companies offering high quality and reliable care were the need of the hour.

The evolution of medical transport services

The medical transportation industry was operating in an unorganized manner with the absence of any regulations and exorbitant taxes until the government introduced the National Ambulance Code (NAC) in 2016 to sensitize the chaotic ecosystem. After this, conglomerates like TATA and Force started developing ambulances that adhered to the government NAC guidelines, which automatically enhanced the quality of these transports. This also led to new opportunities for such companies to offer medical transportation services to hospitals while maintaining the government-specified standards.

Today, more and more hospitals are relying on outsourced ambulance services to focus on their primary job to treat the patients while leaving the logistics part to the medical transport providers.

The leading ambulance service providers are catering to the needs of hospitals and becoming the health and well-being partners of Fortune 500 companies. This clearly shows that the medical transportation industry is growing at a rapid pace. However, for India to continue this evolution and keep the development on track, medical transport services will need to grow and become more accessible. 

Conclusion

The healthcare system is the backbone of a country, and if the current global pandemic has taught us something, it is that India still has a long way to go in the healthcare sector. With the government coming up with new policies to encourage and assist the new players and the primary stakeholders in the healthcare industry -- the system is deemed to grow at a faster pace. Undoubtedly, with the rising awareness, the consumers will be better positioned to make informed decisions for their loved ones.

Prabhdeep Singh, Founder and CEO, StanPlus, Hyderabad