EXCLUSIVE: Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen on how govt can bring healthcare to homes
"We believe a ‘plug and play’ model of supervised home-based care can easily be adopted by communities to assist those who are medically able to recover at home," said Renjen.
- Jan 18, 2022,
- Updated Jan 18, 2022 2:14 PM IST
India is witnessing a major surge in coronavirus cases. As health systems are seemingly getting overwhelmed, governments and local administrations are considering several innovative models to counter the pandemic. Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO talks about how new public health models can help bring limited healthcare resources together to lower the burden on the existing infrastructure.
Business Today (BT): What are the new models that governments should look at?
Punit Renjen (PR): We believe a ‘plug and play’ model of supervised home-based care can easily be adopted by communities to assist those who are medically able to recover at home. In line with this, Deloitte has released a playbook, to help address the rising threat of the Omicron COVID variant. It is intended to be a common reference for local administrations in India, and hopefully, in other countries across the world. The model brings healthcare to the home, leveraging on a combination of digital and human interventions. The protocols outlined here can enable governments to quickly scale the health care support and resources required to address surges in COVID-19 cases.
We did not build this on our own and it was a collaborative effort with experts - some of the finest medical minds in India. The playbook was supported by Dr. K. Srinath Reddy of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), and Dr. Dhruva Chaudhry of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Haryana. The playbook focuses on five key integrated interventions. These are -- remote 24x7 tech-enabled command and control centres to monitor and manage scarce resources such as beds, oxygen, and medical professionals. Second is through, tele-health solutions, mobile labs, etc, virtual health capabilities are created that help identify symptoms, monitor patients in home isolation, and refer licensed doctors to the patients in need. Third, three-tiers of medical infrastructure to be established to enable effective utilisation of all tiers, starting from frontline health workers to tertiary care hospitals equitably and effectively in the event of a pandemic surge. Fourth, awareness and education campaigns to empower people with the right information and a message that prompts positive action. And fifth is to further enhance the playbook by scaling and replication of best practices and lessons learned across geographies to manage emerging health priorities.
This playbook is an enhancement of the playbook released by the Government of Haryana and Deloitte in May 2021. It builds upon the learnings gained from Niti Aayog, “Sanjeevani Pariyojana”, a supervised, virtual home care initiative launched in Karnal, by the Government of Haryana and Deloitte as well as our experience in South Africa.
BT: What impact could this model (playbook) have in managing the current crisis?
PR: The supervised home-based care model can save lives, and as cited before, home isolation of COVID patients, under appropriate guidelines, reduces the burden on the entire healthcare value chain and optimises the use of limited resources. We need to preserve beds in the hospital for the critically ill.
For example, during the peak of the second wave, the Government of Haryana and Deloitte initiative had helped the people from Karnal quickly access healthcare at home. The Karnal district administration’s figures showed this effectively brought the fatality rate down by 50 percent. Over 90 percent of patients were treated at home or at isolation centres, which helped reduce the pressure on the district hospital. After its success in India, the Sanjeevani Pariyojana initiative was also adopted in South Africa and Southeast Asia.
The playbook includes learnings from how various Indian states used the concepts of top-down leadership and decentralised coordination, execution, and planning. The learnings are intended to lay a foundation for a better, stronger, more equitable primary health care infrastructure around the world.
BT: What role is Deloitte planning to play here? How should industry contribute to achieving health equity?
PR: Deloitte established the Deloitte Health Equity Institute to build upon a decade of impact made by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. The Institute is grounded in Deloitte’s commitment to address the systemic issues that result in health inequities and to convene and amplify crisis response. During India’s second COVID-19 wave, Deloitte developed a uniquely Indian solution to “expand the medical ward”, a.k.a., connect people to the care they need outside the hospital setting so that more people could recover at home. If India, and other countries still battling the unrelenting waves of this virus, hope to ‘build back better’ after COVID, primary healthcare infrastructure must be prioritised. By thinking creatively, leveraging technology, and executing a playbook as we did in India this challenge can be met.
We believe that a public-private “partnership with purpose” can narrow the gap in health care resources between the country’s urban and rural areas. No single organisation can address health equity alone. We must work together. The Deloitte model is an example of a multi-organisation being mobilised with a focus on specific health outcomes.
When Deloitte established the Deloitte Health Equity Institute, we expanded our existing long-term commitment to align ecosystems of community-based organisations, government agencies, academics, and the private sector. Efforts are focused on enhancing research, driving equitable health outcomes, and accelerating interventions that help address the drivers of health equity. Additionally, Deloitte is increasing our financial commitment to fund the Institute and its expanded scope.
There are similar steps other businesses can take. These could include: responding to historic inequity, investing in community-based non-profits addressing a broad set of systemic barriers and strengthening public health resilience by fostering change through research and convening ecosystems.
Also read: Budget expectations: Health sector calls for strengthening infra, rural manpower
India is witnessing a major surge in coronavirus cases. As health systems are seemingly getting overwhelmed, governments and local administrations are considering several innovative models to counter the pandemic. Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO talks about how new public health models can help bring limited healthcare resources together to lower the burden on the existing infrastructure.
Business Today (BT): What are the new models that governments should look at?
Punit Renjen (PR): We believe a ‘plug and play’ model of supervised home-based care can easily be adopted by communities to assist those who are medically able to recover at home. In line with this, Deloitte has released a playbook, to help address the rising threat of the Omicron COVID variant. It is intended to be a common reference for local administrations in India, and hopefully, in other countries across the world. The model brings healthcare to the home, leveraging on a combination of digital and human interventions. The protocols outlined here can enable governments to quickly scale the health care support and resources required to address surges in COVID-19 cases.
We did not build this on our own and it was a collaborative effort with experts - some of the finest medical minds in India. The playbook was supported by Dr. K. Srinath Reddy of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), and Dr. Dhruva Chaudhry of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Haryana. The playbook focuses on five key integrated interventions. These are -- remote 24x7 tech-enabled command and control centres to monitor and manage scarce resources such as beds, oxygen, and medical professionals. Second is through, tele-health solutions, mobile labs, etc, virtual health capabilities are created that help identify symptoms, monitor patients in home isolation, and refer licensed doctors to the patients in need. Third, three-tiers of medical infrastructure to be established to enable effective utilisation of all tiers, starting from frontline health workers to tertiary care hospitals equitably and effectively in the event of a pandemic surge. Fourth, awareness and education campaigns to empower people with the right information and a message that prompts positive action. And fifth is to further enhance the playbook by scaling and replication of best practices and lessons learned across geographies to manage emerging health priorities.
This playbook is an enhancement of the playbook released by the Government of Haryana and Deloitte in May 2021. It builds upon the learnings gained from Niti Aayog, “Sanjeevani Pariyojana”, a supervised, virtual home care initiative launched in Karnal, by the Government of Haryana and Deloitte as well as our experience in South Africa.
BT: What impact could this model (playbook) have in managing the current crisis?
PR: The supervised home-based care model can save lives, and as cited before, home isolation of COVID patients, under appropriate guidelines, reduces the burden on the entire healthcare value chain and optimises the use of limited resources. We need to preserve beds in the hospital for the critically ill.
For example, during the peak of the second wave, the Government of Haryana and Deloitte initiative had helped the people from Karnal quickly access healthcare at home. The Karnal district administration’s figures showed this effectively brought the fatality rate down by 50 percent. Over 90 percent of patients were treated at home or at isolation centres, which helped reduce the pressure on the district hospital. After its success in India, the Sanjeevani Pariyojana initiative was also adopted in South Africa and Southeast Asia.
The playbook includes learnings from how various Indian states used the concepts of top-down leadership and decentralised coordination, execution, and planning. The learnings are intended to lay a foundation for a better, stronger, more equitable primary health care infrastructure around the world.
BT: What role is Deloitte planning to play here? How should industry contribute to achieving health equity?
PR: Deloitte established the Deloitte Health Equity Institute to build upon a decade of impact made by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. The Institute is grounded in Deloitte’s commitment to address the systemic issues that result in health inequities and to convene and amplify crisis response. During India’s second COVID-19 wave, Deloitte developed a uniquely Indian solution to “expand the medical ward”, a.k.a., connect people to the care they need outside the hospital setting so that more people could recover at home. If India, and other countries still battling the unrelenting waves of this virus, hope to ‘build back better’ after COVID, primary healthcare infrastructure must be prioritised. By thinking creatively, leveraging technology, and executing a playbook as we did in India this challenge can be met.
We believe that a public-private “partnership with purpose” can narrow the gap in health care resources between the country’s urban and rural areas. No single organisation can address health equity alone. We must work together. The Deloitte model is an example of a multi-organisation being mobilised with a focus on specific health outcomes.
When Deloitte established the Deloitte Health Equity Institute, we expanded our existing long-term commitment to align ecosystems of community-based organisations, government agencies, academics, and the private sector. Efforts are focused on enhancing research, driving equitable health outcomes, and accelerating interventions that help address the drivers of health equity. Additionally, Deloitte is increasing our financial commitment to fund the Institute and its expanded scope.
There are similar steps other businesses can take. These could include: responding to historic inequity, investing in community-based non-profits addressing a broad set of systemic barriers and strengthening public health resilience by fostering change through research and convening ecosystems.
Also read: Budget expectations: Health sector calls for strengthening infra, rural manpower