Open Source Model in Healthcare Can Create Shared Value

It is well known that sections of society are driven below the poverty line due to unbearable costs of healthcare and medicine in India. This is largely because millions of people pay out-of-pocket in the absence of social security guaranteeing health as a fundamental right. 

Some hold the pharmaceutical industry responsible for this “evil” despite knowing that the cost of medicines is only approximately 15% of overall healthcare costs. This is not to say that cost of medicines should not be reduced. The intention is just the opposite. It is to explore how healthcare can be made more accessible to the people through innovative partnerships, effectively leveraging technology and building innovative distribution models between different stakeholders.

It is about thinking how to achieve this by getting the public and private sectors to work together to develop a wide range of innovative tools, partnerships, and approaches to improve healthcare delivery to the underprivileged.