Fixing Healthcare in India Will Take More Than Just Technology

India spends just over 2% of its GDP on healthcare, well below the global average. For a country with 1.5 billion people and rising expectations, this underinvestment shows up in predictable ways: overcrowded hospitals, acute shortage of specialists, and glaring disparities between urban and rural access. Over 500 of India’s 810 districts lack emergency super-speciality services. Add to that a fragmented public-private system and outdated infrastructure, and the question becomes not just how to fix the system, but how to future-proof it.

At the core of that challenge lies a tension: India is simultaneously innovating and improvising. On one hand, it’s producing telemedicine platforms that handle millions of consultations. On the other hand, primary health centres still struggle with power cuts and missing staff. To reconcile these extremes, health experts at the FE Healthcare Summit 2025 argued that India needs a hybrid approach—one that blends digital efficiency with ground-level capacity, policy muscle with frontline adaptability.

Public sector must take the lead

Roli Singh, Additional Secretary and Director General (CGHS), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, believes the responsibility for this transformation lies primarily with the state.

"When we talk about sustainability and the future of healthcare in India, the government has to lead from the front. That’s non-negotiable," she said. While the private sector plays a critical role in innovation and infrastructure, Singh stressed that challenges like communicable diseases, poor sanitation, and maternal and child mortality require a state-led approach.

"We have made significant progress. Some states are now approaching global standards in areas like infant mortality and maternal health. But let’s be clear: no country can say the job is done—not even the developed ones. Public health is aspirational and always evolving," she said.

Singh also pointed to the persistent gaps in health literacy. "We still have large populations with limited awareness about preventive healthcare or how to access services. The burden can’t be placed solely on the people. It’s the government’s job to build awareness, promote health-seeking behaviour, and ensure systems are in place to support that shift," she added.

Technology needs time—and local context

The digital health wave has undoubtedly changed the landscape. But as Kiran Gopal Vaska, Joint Secretary at the National Health Authority and Mission Director of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, pointed out, deployment isn't always uniform.

"In every initiative we try to launch, the rural-urban question inevitably comes up—‘Will this work in rural areas? Will it be adopted in urban centres first?’ But the truth is, you have to start somewhere," he said.

Using diagnostic equipment as an example, Vaska noted the gradual expansion of access. "Take something like MRI machines. For the longest time, they were only found in cities. But now, with more affordable, India-made machines, we are beginning to ask: why shouldn’t every district hospital have one?"

He cited the eSanjeevani platform as a case in point. The government-run telemedicine service now facilitates over four lakh consultations per day, including at primary health centres. "These aren’t just in cities. They’re happening at PHCs, initiated by community health officers on the ground," he said.

According to Vaska, assisted tech adoption is essential for rural penetration. "Until tech becomes truly ubiquitous and easy for everyone to use, we’ll need these intermediary support systems," he said. "But the more accessible technology becomes, the more empowered our frontline workers will be."

Standardised care across the system

While digital infrastructure grabs attention, experts say the silent revolution lies in standardising care. Dr. Sandeep Bansal, Director at VMMC & Safdarjung Hospital, explained how clinical guidelines are slowly reshaping delivery models across the country.

"A few years ago, the ICMR brought together specialists from various domains—cardiology included—to identify the most common diseases in each specialty. We were then asked to create tiered treatment guidelines for different levels of the healthcare system—PHCs, district hospitals, and medical colleges," he said. These guidelines are now helping bring more uniformity across the country.

Bansal also pointed to models that combine clinical insight with technology. In parts of southern India, a hub-and-spoke model is used for managing cardiac emergencies. Rural centres act as spokes, sending ECGs to better-equipped hospitals. "The hub tells them whether to administer clot-busting medication or transfer the patient for an angioplasty. It’s a practical adaptation of technology to local realities," he said.

The workforce equation

If India’s healthcare ambition is digital-first, its workforce challenge is decidedly analog. The shortage of trained specialists continues to stall progress—particularly in remote and semi-urban districts.

"Given the pace at which new technologies are emerging, there’s a clear need to reskill the existing healthcare workforce. Many doctors practising today completed their medical education 15–20 years ago. While there are some retraining programs, consistent reskilling across the ecosystem is still lacking," said Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder Director, Ujala Cygnus Hospitals.

The lack of trained personnel is not just a rural issue. "Out of India’s 810 districts, over 500 lack access to emergency super-specialty care. That’s a massive gap," Bajaj pointed out. He added that during the pandemic, Project StepOne had mobilised over 12,000 volunteer doctors across 21 states for telemedicine support—an effort that proved critical, but also revealed systemic limits.

"We’re producing just about 220 cardiologists and fewer than 80 oncologists a year for a population of 1.5 billion. No amount of tech can compensate for that shortage," he said. "Technology can augment care and support doctors and frontline workers, but it cannot replace the need for trained medical professionals."

A hybrid roadmap

Experts agree that building a future-ready healthcare system in India won’t come from apps alone. Nor will it arrive in the form of a single reform or a one-size-fits-all model.

Instead, the path forward involves a mix of policy clarity, public funding, community-level skilling, and digital enablement. A system where community health workers can lean on telemedicine platforms, where protocols are standardised, and where specialists aren’t just concentrated in metros.

If India gets that right, it won’t just be catching up to global standards—it may just start setting a few of its own