Dr. Saarthak Bakshi
Reflecting on how Indian healthcare has transformed during the past decade, I am quite proud of the progress we have achieved as a nation. The policies made by Startup India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat have been successful not only in terms of making those policies happen but also in building the confidence needed for Indian healthcare entrepreneurs like me to think big and innovate in India, for India. We currently have many healthtech startups in our country, and their number increases every year. What fascinates me the most about the industry is not only its rapid growth but also where it is taking us.
The biggest advantage that India has in comparison to the rest of the world is affordability along with high-quality. In many developed countries, advanced medical treatments remain out of reach for the average family due to sky-high costs. India has managed to build a model where world-class treatment, whether in fertility care, diagnostics, or surgery, is priced in a way that a much larger section of society can actually access it. As someone running a fertility centre, I see this every single day, families who once believed advanced treatments were only for the wealthy are now able to walk in and receive the same quality of care at a fraction of global costs. This is not a compromise, it is smart, efficient innovation built for our reality.
Indian startups are not simply copying models from the West but they are building solutions for our own challenges, including fewer specialists in smaller cities, varied patient needs, and sheer numbers of our population. Instead of using artificial intelligence, digital diagnostics, and telemedicine for purely publicizing purposes, Indian entrepreneurs are using these technologies as real tools for solving real problems. In our organization, Risaa IVF, we have also started exploring how technology can support our embryologists in making more accurate, data-backed decisions. Because innovation should always come for the sake of patients, not for the sake of publicity.
The quality that I appreciate the most in India’s healthcare growth is its patient-centric nature. While the clinics become bigger and use innovative technology, the human connection is preserved. Indian healthcare organizations, regardless of the sphere, try to get to know the patient’s story, his or her fears, the financial state, the experience. This combination of empathy and efficiency is unique and rare for any other country in the world. This combination of patient centricity, affordability of prices, local innovation and real patient care makes the healthcare growth story of India so unique.
As I think about where we go from here, I am optimistic. Aatmanirbhar Bharat is not just about building for ourselves, it is about proving that solutions born in India, shaped by Indian challenges and Indian values, can stand tall on the global stage. Healthcare startups today are not just building businesses, they are quietly rewriting what world-class, accessible care can look like when it is designed with the patient, and the country, at its heart.
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