Delhi – June 28, 2016: The Economic Times recently felicitated leading Healthcare brands as a part of their ‘Best Healthcare Brands’ Summit held in Delhi. Among the felicitated were Apollo Hospital, Asian Institute of Medical Sciences, Max HealthCare, Abbott India and Johnson & Johnson.

Addressing the event, Jagrat Prakash Nadda, Honourable Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India quoted “We are facing dual challenges of communicable and non-communicable diseases; of the gap between urban and rural healthcare; between public and private healthcare. And so we have to see in a holistic manner how to bridge gaps such as these. The government of India is keen to see the industry come forward in PPP mode to do research together, to go forward in this direction to develop healthcare protocols. And so we are looking to fill the gaps to ensure the logistics is provided well. When we talk of universal healthcare, it is not to remain merely a slogan; we are trying to make it a reality.”

In recent times, the healthcare sector has grown to become one of the most progressive and promising sector in India. Various factors such as increase in life expectancy, expanding middle class and higher income levels have contributed to this. Additionally, India sees at least 2,30,000 medical tourists in a year making Indian medical tourism a US$ 3 billion industry and this too is expected to go up to US$6 billion by 2018.

Also present was Dr. (Prof) Jagdish Prakash, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, who shared his views on healthcare by adding “62% of the Indian population is seen by 2% of the doctors, with 98% of our doctors seeing the other 38%. This is the reality of our country; doctors are concentrated only in cities, not in villages. Our states have to develop their infrastructure. Corporates should come forward and adopt districts and help the government in this way. Corporates can feel great pleasure from doing this and making their districts 100% disease free and with improved infrastructure”.

Healthcare in India, comprising hospitals, medical devices, health insurance, medical equipment, clinical trials, pharmaceuticals and wellness companies, is one of the largest revenue garnering sectors in India. Its increase at a brisk pace is being attributed to both – the services and the increased expenditure by private and public players in the sector.

Attending the event was Dr.Sowmya Swaminathan, Secretary-Department of Health & Research, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. She stated “Many come to India not just because of the cost of healthcare, but because of the high quality of healthcare. So there is a lot to be proud about, but we need to be aware of challenges and inequities that could trip us up. There are many social determinants of health, and unless we address this we will not be a healthy nation. Preventive healthcare is important for all sections of society”.

The Best Brands Initiative of The Economic Times commenced in the year 2014 and was backed by thorough research and study conducted through a detailed market research. An extensive survey was conducted in association with MRSS and healthcare brands were graded after considering the parameters of innovation, brand value, brand recall, consumer satisfaction, customer service and quality. The result of the research was also collated in a Brand Book which was launched at The ET Best Healthcare Brands Summit.

Following are the brands which were felicitated at the summit: