Impact of COVID-19 on Healthcare Industry

COVID - 19 has adversely impacted the overall healthcare sector. This pandemic, highlighted the
inadequacies in terms of personnel and paraphernalia even in countries with globally acknowledged
healthcare services. Unfortunately, this issue came into prominence after the sacrifice of a large
number of healthcare professionals who acted as a bulwark against this disease. In these testing
times, it was the collaboration of the private and public healthcare sector that led the way and
helped the world in preparing a plan of action to counter the pandemic.

The Private healthcare sector may have experienced operating losses in between 14,000 to 24,000
crores for a quarter as the treatment cost was capped in many countries. It is constrained due to lack
of liquidity and insufficient facilities for exponentially rising patients, which slowed down the
revenue generation leading to the onset of losses, causing cash balances to reduce.

The revenue in fiscal year 2021 may show a dip of 20-35% as compared to the previous year,
forecast predicts. Before the pandemic, the sector was fragile in terms of financial robustness. This
sector is in dire need of financial backing and provisions from the government that can help them
sail through these unprecedented times.

A beneficial thing that this pandemic has brought about is the amelioration of hospitals in terms of
infrastructure with increased number of beds, ventilators and other equipments. The initiative has
been taken by various organisations by granting billions to aid countries who may not be well
equipped to fight this outbreak without external support. It only takes a micro-organism to shake
the foundation of the modern world in a manner that cannot be defended against by even the most
advanced weapons of the world. The global priority has now shifted to healthcare sector with more
focus on affordable, accessible and quality healthcare.