Raghab Prasad Panda

Met and interviewed Abhay Soi, ace healthcare investor and the force behind Max Healthcare’s rise to Rs 1 lakh crore market cap — now India’s most valuable healthcare company. From turning around struggling hospitals to leading a Rs 5,000 crore expansion, Soi’s journey is nothing short of remarkable. Soi spoke to me about his vision of a pan-India crusade to bridge the country’s healthcare gap. The banker-turned-healthcare entrepreneur opened up about his early days as an outsider in the industry — and how it was his initial failures, not successes, that truly shaped his approach to building and leading in healthcare. https://lnkd.in/dH-g4qZD #AbhaySoi #MaxHealthcare #HealthcareLeader #EconomicTimes

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One Nation, One Healthtech Stack: The Future of Digital Healthcare in India India is at the cusp of a groundbreaking shift in healthcare delivery. Thanks to the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, we now have over 73 crore ABHA IDs issued—enabling citizens to securely store and transmit their health data. Additionally, more than 5 lakh healthcare professionals are onboard, reinforcing trust and credibility in digital health platforms. But it’s not enough to just digitise records; we must create an interoperable healthtech stack that connects every node of the healthcare ecosystem—clinics, labs, hospitals, and telehealth platforms. Imagine seamless access to a patient’s medical history, diagnostics, and prescriptions, no matter where they receive care. Initiatives like the Unified Health Interface (UHI), which draws from the principles of UPI, are designed to bridge this digital divide, enabling frictionless integration of services across providers. This unified infrastructure promises better diagnosis, improved transparency, and stronger continuity of care. India has already set global benchmarks with digital infrastructure—from Aadhaar to UPI and CoWIN. A healthtech stack built on similar principles can revolutionise public health: enabling informed decision-making, expanding preventive care, and ensuring that technology truly serves every Indian, everywhere. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gdtfFRBN #DigitalHealth #HealthTech #ABDM #UnifiedHealthInterface #HealthcareTransformation #ApolloTeleHealth

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Happy to share my article in FICCI’s Health Wrap on a subject close to my heart – how India can redefine healthcare value by aligning cost and quality. India’s healthcare journey must now move from episodic excellence to systemic accountability. For a billion people, this means: • Building a national outcomes framework where what gets measured, gets improved. • Moving to value-based reimbursement that rewards quality, not just volume. • Using technology as an enabler so small-town hospitals can deliver world-class care without massive overheads. At Ujala Cygnus , as pioneers in small towns and as champions of low cost high quality healthcare, we have seen firsthand how frugal innovation, structured outcome reporting, and digital adoption can transform care in underserved regions. India doesn’t need to replicate the world’s most expensive health systems — we can lead with frugal excellence. The future belongs not to the biggest spender, but to the best-designed system. Read the full piece in FICCI Health Wrap. #Healthcare #ValueBasedCare #FICCI #UjalaCygnus #healthforall

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At the Thrive Summit in Hyderabad, organised by Optum and ETHRWorld, I spoke on a simple truth. We don’t rise to the level of our goals. We rewire to the level of our habits. After the talk, several people came up to me with the same question: Are corporate wellness programs truly engines of change, or are they just another box to tick? The latest CII–MediBuddy Corporate Wellness Report 2025 makes that question impossible to ignore. - 70% of Indian employees carry at least one lifestyle-related health risk - Only 20% of employers provide routine health screenings - 86% of employees are struggling with mental health challenges, lifestyle risks and toxic workloads - The cost of this is about ₹1.12 lakh per employee per year in lost productivity That is not a side issue. It is the workforce. It is the business. And yet, when companies invest in real wellness programs, the return is clear. A 3 to 4 times ROI. 1.6 times more likely to retain talent. 1.8 times higher employee satisfaction. Caring pays. So the question is not whether wellness matters. It is whether we are willing to stop treating it as theatre. Mental well-being is not about one-off webinars. It is about daily micro-habits that buffer stress and build resilience. Physical well-being is not about discounted gym memberships. It is about creating environments where good food, sleep and movement are part of the workday. Cultures of care are not built in slogans. They are built in micro-moments of belonging, where people feel safe, seen and supported. What needs to change: - One-off events must become always-on ecosystems - Generic perks must give way to personalised care that reflects real life stages, from women’s health to caregiving - Announcements must be replaced by structures that make health the default and burnout the exception If we want to act, here are five things that leaders and HR can do today: - Make annual health screenings routine and non-negotiable - Measure the real cost of absenteeism and presenteeism, and track ROI - Design wellness for the whole human: nutrition, movement, sleep, mental health, caregiving - Move away from one-size-fits-all and tailor support to diverse needs - Build always-on, digitally enabled ecosystems that make care part of daily work The harder question is this. Are we building cultures where wellness is felt? Or are we simply ticking a box? A special thanks to Amber Alam for organising an excellent event. Conversations like this can help HR leaders think more innovatively about what workplace wellness truly means. I hope that Optum becomes a breath of fresh air in this space, leading with solutions that not only promise change but also embed it. Because the future of work does not depend on slogans, it depends on whether we can rewire the habits, systems and environments that help people feel they belong. We do not rise to our goals. We rewire to the level of our habits. And the health of work itself depends on it.

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Dr. Bindu Menon: A True Torchbearer of Rural Healthcare 🌿👩‍⚕️ For the past several years, Dr. Bindu Menon, a distinguished neurologist, has been reaching India’s villages with her mission of free healthcare. Through her continuous medical camps, she has offered treatment and medicines to countless people who could not afford specialized care, bringing comfort and hope where it was needed the most. Her Mission of Service 🏥💛 Though she works in urban hospitals, Dr. Menon always felt disturbed by the wide gap between city and village healthcare. Determined to change this, she began traveling to rural areas, setting up free camps where she not only treats patients but also educates them about recognizing early symptoms and the importance of timely medical help. For her, spreading awareness is just as vital as providing treatment. Focus on Neurological Care 🧠💊 Her expertise lies in conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, migraine, and Parkinson’s disease — illnesses often overlooked in rural regions. With the help of her dedicated team, she examines patients, provides them with free medicines, and ensures continued follow-up, so care doesn’t end with just one visit. Technology for Greater Reach 📱🔗 To expand her mission, she has also launched a mobile app and a helpline, making it possible for patients in remote villages to consult her directly. This step has brought consistent healthcare access to communities far from hospitals. ✨ Inspiration for All ✨ Dr. Bindu Menon’s work is more than just medicine — it is about equality, compassion, and change. Her vision is clear: healthcare should be accessible to every Indian, no matter where they live. 🙏 #BinduMenon #HealthcareForAll #TrueHero #Inspiration #ChangeMaker

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We had the privilege of hosting Sajith Kumar S, Health Economist at NCG-TMH, for an engaging session on "Deep Insights on Economic Evaluation in Health Technology Assessment (HTA)". The talk began with the fundamentals of scarcity in healthcare, reminding us that limited resources force policymakers and practitioners to make difficult choices. Dr. Sajith then introduced the concept of HTA as a multidisciplinary tool to guide evidence-based decision-making in healthcare, focusing on how to allocate resources efficiently. A major highlight of the session was the detailed discussion on types of economic evaluations: Cost-Minimization Analysis (CMA) Cost-Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) Cost-Utility Analysis (CUA) Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) Dr. Sajith enriched the session with real-world case studies from India, ranging from digital primary care in Finland, cervical cancer screening strategies, and drug-resistant TB diagnostics, to influenza vaccination programs and chronic leukemia treatments. Each example highlighted how economic evaluation tools can directly influence policy formulation, price negotiations, and national health program design. The session concluded with a reflection on incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) and their relevance in determining whether an intervention is worth adopting in a resource-constrained country like India. Overall, it was an insightful session that blended theory with practical policy implications, reminding us how health economics bridges clinical outcomes with affordability and access!

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🚀 The GIMS Ecosystem — Govt. of Uttar Pradesh’s model where ideas meet patients, innovation meets validation, and startups scale with impact. With an ICMR-Intent Clinical Trial Centre serving 2,000+ patients every day and India’s first public hospital–based government company for MedTech incubation, GIMS, Greater Noida is building a single-window ecosystem for healthcare startups: ✅ Clinical Trials ✅ Mentoring ✅ Validation ✅ Funding Pathways ✅ Market Access This is how Uttar Pradesh is positioning itself as a national leader in healthcare innovation. #GIMS #UttarPradesh #HealthcareInnovation #ClinicalTrials #Startups #MedTech

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