Rishi Kumar Sonwal

India’s Medical Value Tourism (MVT) story is entering a more integrated phase. The Union Budget 2026–27 proposed support for five Regional Medical Hubs, in partnership with states and the private sector. These hubs are envisaged to bring together medical services, education, research, AYUSH Centres, MVT facilitation, diagnostics, post-care and rehabilitation. What interests me is not only the infrastructure, but the inter-governmental architecture developing around it. Three Ministries, one emerging ecosystem The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare is looking at the Regional Medical Hubs as integrated healthcare ecosystems. In its August review, the Ministry noted that inputs had been shared with DPIIT and that the proposed hubs would connect modern medicine with AYUSH, MVT facilitation and supporting care infrastructure. The Ministry of AYUSH has separately provided technical inputs to DPIIT for integrating AYUSH systems into the proposed hubs. Its current policy direction also ex...

A recent report by ETHealthworld has brought an important healthcare-system question back into focus. The Centre has sought an NPPA report after the Maharashtra FDA flagged significant gaps between trade procurement prices and printed MRPs of hospital consumables. The survey cited examples including an IV infusion set procured at ₹11.05 with a printed MRP of ₹325 — a reported 2,841% gap. This should not automatically become a debate about whether hospitals, manufacturers, distributors or TPAs are responsible. The bigger question is: how transparent is the financial journey of a patient through the healthcare system? Hospitals have genuine costs beyond procurement — emergency inventory, sterilisation, clinical and biomedical manpower, infrastructure, technology, traceability, expiry and obsolescence risks, compliance and 24×7 readiness. Hospital-industry representatives have also argued that the procurement price of a sophisticated medical technology cannot simply be equated with its co...

India’s healthcare transformation is often discussed through clinical innovation and digital infrastructure separately. But important changes are happening where these systems meet inside hospitals. Two recent developments offer an interesting perspective. Precision Medicine for All AIIMS New Delhi has introduced Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) tests for OPD and IPD patients, including phenobarbital, carbamazepine, valproic acid and phenytoin. Reports are also available through the e-Hospital portal for clinicians and ORS for patients. This matters because advanced clinical services can now be embedded within public tertiary-care institutions and supported by digital workflows. Sustainable Payment Infrastructure On the financial side, NPCI’s new UPI framework introduces a 0.4% MDR for specified P2M transactions above ₹2,000 from October 15, capped at ₹300 for transactions of ₹75,000 and above. The government has clarified that this MDR is not to be passed on to consumers. For hospita...

BRICS 2026 concludes with a bigger question for India’s HealthTech journey: Can the capabilities India has demonstrated at population scale become solutions and partnerships for the wider world? India entered this summit with more than a large healthcare market. It brought one of the world’s largest and most diverse healthcare ecosystems — one where digital health, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, MedTech and AI-enabled solutions are being tested across complex, high-volume and highly varied healthcare settings. The BRICS agenda has now created several pathways to take that experience further. The BRICS Integrated Early Warning System for Mass Infectious Diseases, cooperation on AI and digital tools for health, the BRICS Vaccine R&D Centre, the Compendium on Digital Health Architecture for Continuum of Care, and the BRICS Network of Centres of Excellence on Mental Health, coordinated by NIMHANS, are examples of institutional mechanisms emerging from this cooperation.  India’s own ...

Day 1 of BRICS 2026 has given me something more interesting to watch than the usual summit headlines: what India is actually putting on the table in HealthTech. At the BRICS Business Forum, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal described India as the “pharmacy of the world” and highlighted BRICS as an important market for Indian products. But India’s healthcare proposition is increasingly moving beyond pharmaceuticals. At the Bharat Innovates Exposition, 37 Indian deep-tech ventures are being showcased to BRICS CEOs, investors and business leaders, with the stated aim of creating technology partnerships, investment opportunities and international market access. Among the innovations on display are AI-enabled cervical cancer screening and AI-based maternal-fetal monitoring. The first could help make cervical cancer risk assessment and early detection more scalable. The second could support earlier identification of maternal and fetal risks through technology-enabled monitoring. Th...

India’s HealthTech story is moving beyond adoption. The bigger question is whether India can become a technology partner for healthcare systems across the Global South. The timing is significant. As New Delhi prepares to host the 18th BRICS Leaders’ Summit on September 12–13, public health and technology cooperation are part of the wider BRICS conversation. The BRICS Health Ministers’ track has also brought digital health and AI-enabled healthcare into focus. India already has important building blocks. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) is creating a national digital-health architecture, while eSanjeevani has demonstrated how technology can extend healthcare access at population scale. Indian innovators are working across diagnostics, clinical AI, medical devices and remote care. But HealthTech leadership is not simply about having startups, platforms or AI pilots. It requires clinical validation, interoperability, data protection, appropriate regulation and the ability to tak...

As the 18th BRICS Summit opens in New Delhi (September 12–13, 2026) under India’s Chairship guided by the theme “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability,” the official release places digital health architecture, AI-enabled healthcare continuum, and accessible health technology directly at the heart of the Global South agenda. As the Summit brings the Global South into sharp focus, a fundamental question emerges for the global healthcare ecosystem: Will developing economies remain passive consumers of Western medical innovation, or will they co-create a new paradigm for population-scale, affordable health technology? With its unique convergence of digital public infrastructure, frugal engineering, and massive demographic diversity, India is positioned at a historic tipping point. Here are 5 strategic pillars where India can lead the BRICS nations and the broader Global South in healthcare technology transformation: 1. AI-Powered Diagnostics & Clinical Dec...

Skilled talent + world-class testing infrastructure + manufacturing capability could shape India’s next MedTech leap. Two recent developments caught my attention. 1. The National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) has placed the draft Competency-Based Curriculum for a Diploma in Medical Equipment Technology in the public domain and invited suggestions/comments latest by October 1, 2026. What makes this interesting is the breadth of the proposed curriculum. It goes well beyond traditional equipment maintenance to include: Medical imaging & diagnostic systems Critical-care and life-support equipment Clinical engineering & asset management Healthcare IT & cybersecurity AI/ML and Software as a Medical Device Quality, safety, calibration and regulatory compliance A 960-hour clinical internship in a hospital setting Official NCAHP Draft Curriculum : Diploma in Medical Equipment Technology 2. Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has called upon India...

Life often brings public policy into sharp focus when you least expect it. Last Friday, I had to suddenly rush to my hometown, Varanasi, due to my grandmother’s severe ill health. We admitted her to a private hospital, and within minutes, the PMJAY (Ayushman Bharat) workflow seamlessly kicked in—enabling cashless critical care treatment without administrative bottlenecks. Sitting in the ICU alongside her, watching the care delivery unfold in real time, was a deeply grounding moment. As a health policy professional, it highlighted a vital structural shift: PMJAY has successfully driven high-capacity, standardized tertiary care into Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. In Varanasi alone, multi-specialty private networks along the National Highway corridors are now operating at a standard that was previously exclusive to Tier-1 metros. But establishing this baseline capacity raises a larger strategic question for regional development: Once a regional ecosystem masters high-volume domestic care throu...

As the festive season approaches, raw material volatility is a central discussion across India's industrial hubs. For integrated healthcare manufacturers navigating both allopathic and traditional medicines production, the sudden spike in domestic sugar prices presents a unique operational challenge. Rather than reacting to market speculation, it is critical to look at the structural realities behind this trend, as highlighted by The Indian Express and official Press Information Bureau (PIB) data: The Output Reality: Gross domestic sugar production for the current season fell sharply to 306 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT), down 11% from initial state estimates of 343 LMT due to climate shocks. Declining Ethanol Diversion: Data confirms the share of sugar diverted to ethanol dropped from 12% in 2022-23 to 9% in 2025-26. Today, nearly three-fourths of India's ethanol is derived from grains like maize, keeping it largely decoupled from sugarcane supply. Global Headwinds: International su...