The pandemic elevated the priority placed on healthcare by governments and patients, and we saw a ~9% increase in spend during the pandemic on this $ 3 trillion+ industry in APAC. With COVID-19 now in the rear view mirror, the industry is expected to sustain this unprecedented change in spend — signaling the demand is real and the region is evolving. Despite inflationary pressures around the world, patient numbers have grown between 15% to 30%, depending on the disease, indicating there is a surge in demand for products and services across the Asian healthcare industry. However, supply is lagging — healthcare facilities are overcrowded, physician-population ratios are declining, medicine availability is low and funding increase is insufficient. We have seen this market dynamic before, and the longer this demand-supply mismatch plays out, the longer the window of opportunity for innovators and disruption to take a crack at ~$250bn of market creation needed in the near-term.

Authors:

• Nikhil Khicha, Managing Principal, Head of Consulting 
• Rijul Bhardwaj, Associate Principal, Consulting