The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) has announced its 16th annual healthcare conference- FICCI HEAL 2022 from October 10 to 12, 2022. The conference, being organised since 2007 supported by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, will be held physically at FICCI, New Delhi. This year’s conference is an endeavour to converge all stakeholders- national and international, and provide a forum for sharing of learnings and experiences.
Emphasizing the significance of ‘healthier citizens build a healthier nation’, the theme of FICCI HEAL 2022 is ‘Healthcare Transformation: Driving India’s Economic Growth. FICCI has been advocating that a robust healthcare system drives GDP growth in the presence of adequate investments and a conducive environment by not only acting as a productivity and employment generator but also as a magnet to attract foreign exchange earnings and provide opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship. The conference will deliberate on the opportunities for transforming our healthcare systems, underscoring its significance for economic growth.
Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, Hon’ble Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare; and Chemicals and Fertilisers, Government of India, will inaugurate the conference and Dr Sunil Kumar, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Johns Hopkins University, USA will deliver the Keynote Address. Other dignitaries invited for the conference include, Dr V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, GoI; Dr R S Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority, GoI; Dr V G Somani, Drugs Controller General of India; Ms Roli Singh, IAS, AS and MD (NHM), MoHFW; Dr Manohar Agnani, Addl. Secretary, MoHFW; Mr Lav Agarwal, Addl. Secretary, MoHFW; Maj Gen (Prof) Atul Kotwal, Executive Director, NHSRC, MoHFW; Prof Minu Bajpai, Honorary Executive Director, NBEMS and Head of Department of Pediatric Surgery, AIIMS- New Delhi; Dr Shankar Prinja, Executive Director (HP&QA), National Health Authority, GoI.
Expressing views on the conference theme, Gautam Khanna, Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and CEO, P D Hinduja Hospital & MRC said, “Healthcare has become one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy, in terms of both revenue and employment. According to NITI Aayog (GoI), the sector has been growing at a CAGR of 22% since 2016, employing 4.7 million people directly and has the potential to generate over 500,000 new jobs per year. Apart from this, the sector has a multiplier effect and indirect impact on employment generation in the country, with additional advantage of majority employment for women”.
He further added that, “We need to rethink the role of the healthcare system in the post- pandemic era as the global pandemic has brought the long-awaited and crucial focus on ‘healthcare- as the economic driver’ of a country, which needs to be now reinforced in our approaches, policies as well as future strategies.”
Sharing his thoughts, Dr Harsh Mahajan, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and Founder & Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging said, “The crisis due to COVID-19 pandemic has opened the flood gates for innovation and entrepreneurship in the healthcare sector, with accelerated development of low-cost, scalable, and quick products and solutions- whether pharma, MedTech or services. The pandemic has also provided an impetus to expansion of telemedicine, digital tools and home healthcare market in the country, apart from catalyzing reforms in healthcare infrastructure, capacity building as well as operations and supply chains. It is now crucial to view healthcare as the contributor to our overall economic growth and lay a greater emphasis to develop a robust healthcare system with favorable policies for increased investment and research in the sector.”
With this, FICCI has also announced the 14th edition of ‘FICCI Healthcare Excellence Awards on the theme ‘Inspire. Change. Together’. The award ceremony to felicitate organisations and individuals for their exemplary contributions to improving healthcare will be held on October 11, 2022, at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi. Smt Smriti Irani, Hon’ble Union Minister, Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India will be the ‘Chief Guest’ for the ceremony. The participants will be evaluated by a high-level independent jury panel Chaired by Mr C K Mishra, Former Secretary, MoEFCC and MoHFW, Government of India.
The three-day conference will include keynote addresses, panel discussions as well as plenary sessions covering the entire spectrum of healthcare delivery- primary healthcare, quality in care, healthcare workforce strengthening, infrastructure for NCDs with a focus on cancer care, health insurance, digital health as well as diagnostics and medical technologies. This year FICCI has also brought back the pre-conference Master Classes on specialised subjects like Design Thinking and Artificial Intelligence.
