NEW DELHI, 02 June 2021:

Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog today said that the second wave has been more catastrophic than the first one and it overwhelmed the health system for a while. The government has taken a series of measures since then and there has been a steady decline in the number of active cases. “There has been further ramping up of the vaccination drive and the private sector has played a very pivotal role in managing the pandemic and has complimented the efforts of the government in a significant way,” he added.

Addressing the virtual ‘Interactive session on Saving Lives and Livelihood’, organized by FICCI, jointly with OYO, Mr Kant applauded the role of the private sector in the overall vaccination drive. “There may be a slight demand-supply imbalance in vaccination during June-July but from August onwards there will be an adequate amount of vaccines available. From then on, we should be able to vaccinate everybody in India properly and that should help us,” he added.

Mr Kant further said that all of us need to be responsible to save ourselves from a third wave because if the third wave happens, then the children and people in rural areas will get impacted. “We need to build up both hospital infrastructure and human resources. We need to ensure ICU facility at the grassroot level. This is also an opportunity for the private sector to come forward,” he added.

Mr Kant emphasized the need to build up a model of private public-partnership in which government acts as a facilitator and the private sector comes forward. “If we leave everything on the government, it will be difficult to achieve the goal. This is an opportunity to create the infrastructure in the rural areas and in tier-2,3 cities. We should not lose the momentum of creating good quality infrastructure and associations like FICCI will play a very important role in this,” he said.

The private sector, he said came forward in bolstering the supply chain, supplementing oxygen capabilities, ramping up of medical infrastructure and providing oxygen concentrators and technical assistance to several government agencies. “We are working with the private sector and international developmental organizations with an aim to forge strong partnership to strengthen our response to the pandemic,” Mr Kant added.

He further stated that when the situation worsened and international assistance started pouring in, we worked on a war footing to coordinate all assistance, ensured zero delays, and all items dispatched to destinations with the use of technology in a transparent manner. “We used technology to develop a fully digital and transparent end-to-end system which enabled all aid coming via government to government and private to government channels,” he noted.

Mr Kant also said that sectors like Tourism and Aviation are badly hit and would need the government support. “We should be as innovative as possible and support our industries both on the monetary as well as the fiscal side,” he added.

Mr Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Group CEO, OYO, said, “India Inc has shown immense resilience to COVID-19 in the past year. I would like to thank Mr Amitabh Kant for his words of encouragement & wisdom. We’ve opened our hotels to those who need the most during these times. As part of OYO CARE, we have partnered with hospitals and healthcare services providers to provide isolation and quarantine facilities to healthcare professionals and frontline workers. We also believe that vaccination will be key to build trust and confidence among travellers when they are ready to step out again. OYO is using technology to give its hotel staff vaccine visibility with the ‘VaccinAid’ feature on the app. Along with thousands of small and medium hotel partners, we are hopeful of combating the challenges posed by the pandemic & building a resilient OYO.”

Mr Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, FICCI said that the current wave of COVID-19 has been much more severe and widespread than what we experienced last year. “FICCI will continue to support the initiatives of supporting the livelihoods of those associated with travel, tourism and hospitality industry,” he added.

Mr Anil Rajput, Member, Corporate Management Committee and Head, Corporate Affairs, ITC Ltd said that we need to remain prepared to fight new challenges while ensuring that we find a balance between lives and livelihood.

Mr Gaurav Gupta, Co-Founder & Head of Supply, Zomato; Mr Raghav Chandra, Co-Founder, Urban Company; Mr Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO India and South East Asia also shared their perspective on the steps taken by the industry in saving lives and livelihood.

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Bengaluru, 16^th September 2020 – FICCI recently announced its annual healthcare conference – FICCI HEAL 2020 from 29^th September 2020 to 1^st October 2020. The 14th edition of FICCI HEAL on the theme, “Post-COVID Healthcare World – The New Beginning” is scheduled on a virtual platform and will include Keynote Addresses, Panel Discussions as well as Plenary Sessions covering the entire spectrum of healthcare- public health, care delivery, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, integration of traditional medicine as well as digital health.

FICCI HEAL 2020 will be inaugurated by Shri M Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Vice President of India, and will be graced by esteemed Government and Industry Stalwarts like-

• Dr Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Government of India *
• Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Government of India
• Dr Scot Atlas, Advisor-White House Coronavirus Task Force; Robert Wesson Senior Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at Stanford University
• Prof Richard C Horton FRCP FMedSci,Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet  
• Prof Arvind Panagariya, Prof of Economics & Jagdish Bhagwati Prof- Indian Political Economy, Columbia University
• Prof Ashish Jha, Dean- Global Strategy, K.T. Li Professor of Global Health; Director, Harvard Global Health Institute
• Mr Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India
• Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade*
• Dr P D Vaghela, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, GoI*
• Dr InduBhushan,CEO, National Health Authority, Government of India
• Dr Tedros A Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organisation*
• Ms K KShailaja, Minister for Health, Social Justice and Woman and Child Development, State of Kerala*
• Mr T V Mohandas Pai, Adviser, FICCI Skills Committee & Chairman, Manipal Global Education*
• Dr Mahesh Verma, Head- COVID-19 Advisory Body to Delhi Government and Vice-Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
• Mr Kieran Murphy, Global CEO, GE Healthcare
• Mr Jan Herzhoff, President- Global Health Markets, Elsevier
• Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson & MD, Biocon Limited*
• Dr Sangita Reddy, President, FICCI and Joint MD, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd
• (Hony) Brig Dr Arvind Lal, Advisor- FICCI Health Services Committee and Executive Chairman, Dr Lal PathLabs
• Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO, Fortis Healthcare
• Mr Narendra Varde, General Manager & Country Head, Abbott Diagnostics
• Dr G S K Velu, Chairman & Managing Director, Trivitron Healthcare
• Mr Vishal Dembla, Chief Business Officer, ConnectedLife Health

Speaking on the event, Dr Alok Roy, Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals said, “COVID-19 has highlighted the underlying inadequacies in our healthcare systems, specifically concerning an effective response to a pandemic. At the same time, it has opened up a plethora of opportunities for transforming our healthcare ecosystem to be future-ready. This calls for strengthening of stakeholder collaborations, rethinking of processes and policies, and adopting a more patient-centric as well as community-centric approach for healthcare delivery and we believe FICCI HEAL 2020 will provide a perfect platform for that.”

Adding to this, Dr Harsh Mahajan, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee & Founder & Chief Radiologist, Mahajan Imaging said,“FICCI HEAL 2020 is an endeavor to bring together all the relevant stakeholders to share their experiences and deliberate on the solutions and reforms for post-COVID healthcare. The conference would be a conglomeration of CEOs, policymakers, national and international leaders from healthcare and allied industries.”

The three-day long event will have many insightful Business sessions on topics like Digital Revolution: Going Viral!; Changing landscape of Pharma Industry;Realizing Atmanirbhar Bharat through Make in India; Diagnostics- Pandemic & Beyond; Best Practices for Management of COVID-19; Home Healthcare; How the World will prepare for Post-COVID etc. Mr Gautam Khanna, Co-Chair, FICCI Healthservices Committee and CEO, P D Hinduja Hospital is also supporting the program development, along with Dr Harsh Mahajan and Dr Alok Roy.

The Scientific Sessions will bring together top Clinical experts from India and around the world to share the latest data, experiences, exciting developments, and best research findings in the ongoing battle against COVID-19. Some of the sessions are- Private Healthcare at the forefront of battle with COVID-19:From Strategy to Frontline Trenches; COVID-19: Spectrum of clinical syndromes, complications; Therapies for COVID-19: Current therapies and their effectiveness; and more. Dr Arati Verma, Sr Vice President – Medical Quality, Max Healthcare andDr N Subramanian, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee and Director, Medical Services & Sr. Consultant- Urology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals are convening the Scientific Sessions.

Continuing the long legacy of recognizing the best practices in the industry, FICCI is also organizing the 12th edition of its much-awaited ‘Healthcare Excellence Awards’, on September 29, 2020 from 11:30 am to 12:15 pm on the Virtual Platform. The eminent Jury will be Chaired by Mr C K Mishra, Former Secretary, MoEFCC and MoHFW, GoI and the Awards Ceremony will be moderated by Dr Narottam Puri, Advisor, FICCI Health Services Committee; Former Chairman- NABH; Advisor-Medical Operations & Chairman- Fortis Medical Council, Fortis Healthcare Ltd.

This year in the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and to recognize the courage of healthcare workers, specific categories have been introduced. These categories are designed to recognize the efforts of the industry in ensuring the delivery of quality healthcare to the patients. Dr Y P Bhatia, Managing Director, Astron Hospital & Healthcare Consultants Pvt Ltd and Dr Ravi Gaur, Director & Chairman- Medical Strategy & Advisory Board, Oncquest Laboratories Ltd are the Chair and Co-Chair for the Awards. The awards are supported by Astron Healthcare and global consulting firm Ernst and Young LLB are the official tabulators

FICCI, in partnership with Boston Consulting Group, has also undertaken a study to layout the contours of the Open Digital Health Ecosystem as envisioned in the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) announced by the honorable Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi on 15 August 2020. This Report titled, “Ushering in the Digital Era for Healthcare Delivery in India”, will be released during the Inaugural Session of the Conference.

In addition, FICCI is also organising a Health Tech Innovation Bootcamp on Day 2 of the conference, that intends to bridge the existing gap between Indian Innovators and other key industry stakeholders by facilitating potential partnerships among them. The Bootcamp will be moderated by Mr Sashi Kumar, Co-Chair, FICCI Medical Devices Committee; Managing Director, Phoenix Medical Systems and Mr Shyam Vasudev Rao, Co-Chair, FICCI Medical Devices Committee; Founder & Director, Forus Health &Renalyx health systems

MsShobha Mishra Ghosh, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI, further shared, FICCI has been organizing its annual healthcare conference, FICCI HEAL since 2007 supported by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and recently by NITI Aayog, Government of India. Over the years, this has evolved as a landmark event and a credible platform for health industry stakeholders for sharing knowledge and best practices.

The registration for FICCI HEAL 2020 is now open. (www.ficci-heal.com)

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