“Embrace Infant Warmer” is an innovative, affordable infant warmer that doesn’t require a constant supply of electricity and costs less than 1% of the USD 20,000 that traditional incubators cost. With about 25 million low-birth-weight and premature babies being given birth every year around the world (primarily in developing countries) and about four million babies dieing within the first 28 days of life (nearly 450 babies every hour)1, the Embrace Infant Warmer is a life saver for the millions of vulnerable newborns in the developing and underdeveloped countries. GE Healthcare, the developer of the product, also offers the USD 500 MACi cardiology device for India, which allows physicians to give scans for the cost of a bottle of water.
With the center of global economic activity shifting from the west to the east, emerging economies such as
China and
India with a significantly large pool of under-served patients represent the next big opportunity for growth and profitability for the healthcare industry. The good news – the customer base is way too large; the bad news – lack of universal health insurance resulting in low affordability.
Clearly, the only way out is to design products and services that are affordable and easily accessible. Innovation, thus, has to be strategic priority and not just one of the long-term initiatives. GE Healthcare’s is an amazing case study of the power of reverse innovation—a new model of product development that empowers local teams to develop technologies in their country, for their country—to address local needs and enable access to technology where it may never have been available before.
And the success stories are not limited to products. The Aravind Eye Care System in the state of Tamilnadu and the Narayana Hrudayalaya in
Bangalore, India provide compelling case studies of making quality healthcare services available by containing costs. Aravind’s business proposition is simple – volume brings down the cost and ensures the viability of the enterprise. Volume in turn is ensured by the combination of low cost, high quality and efficient procedures, as well as the appropriate use of technology. Narayana Hrudayalaya, on the other hand, has contained costs by tweaking processes, driving hard bargains and negotiating creative partnership deals.
The fact that the next phase of demand is going to be driven by consumers who can not be served using the traditional business models makes it imperative for global organizations to make “Innovation”, the engine of their growth strategy.
China remains the world’s most populous country and is consequently home to a large patient base. The country is home to more than 120 million people who are aged 65 or older—a population in continuous need of medical care.
India, the second most populous country globally, is home to 1.2 billion people, approximately 5% of which are aged 65 or older. It’s estimated that shortly after 2020,
India’s population will surpass
China, making it the most populous country in the world. As the population continues to grow and people continue to age, the underlying demand for healthcare is also expected to increase.
The winners will be the ones with “Innovation” as the center and these 3As – Affordability, Access, and Awareness – as the spokes of their wheel of growth.
