Devi Shetty, chairman of Narayana Group of Hospitals, said on Saturday that the economy of the 21st century will be driven by the healthcare sector.
He was speaking as the chief guest at the graduation ceremony of the 17th batch of MBA programme at Justice K.S. Hegde Institute of Management, here.
Dr. Shetty said that the global healthcare sector was a $7 trillion industry, second only to the food and agro industry estimated at $ 7.6 trillion.
But this healthcare catered only to 20 per cent of health needs of the people.
If healthcare sector was to cater to about half of the world’s population, it would require $ 15 trillion. It was essential that farmers, who struggled a lot, got the benefit of healthcare.
Hence, the State government launched Yeshaswini Micro Health Insurance Scheme in 2003.
Nearly 17 lakh farmers then had to pay just Rs. 5 as premium under the scheme. Now about 40 lakh were paying Rs. 22 as premium.
The government was the reinsurer. The Yeshaswini Trust managed the scheme. Ever since its launch, 7,65,000 surgeries and 1,00,000 heart surgeries had been conducted under the scheme. Management graduates should always ask themselves if the step taken by them would benefit the poor and the weakest.
Instead of waiting for the right job, they should apply for the job on hand. There was now lot of take about “work-life balance.”
Shodhan S., bagged both the academic topper award and Best Outgoing Student award, while the Best Project Report award went to Sabeeha Abdul Shukoor.
N. Vinaya Hedge, Chancellor of Nitte University, presided over the function. K. Sankaran, Director of the Institute, and others were present.
