Private Healthcare Industry in India and its Consumer Behavior Research Proposal

 

Private Healthcare Industry in India and its Consumer Behavior

Introduction

One of the problems in the developing countries is the level of health care and its associated facilities. Because of the appearance of poverty that rotten the governmental policies and regulations, the health care quality and continuous promotion are duly affected. The officials are focused on too many things that the budget is declared insufficient for all their projects. However, because of the existence of the foreign investments, the developing countries are slowly making the progress and already in the path towards the continuous development and economic success, leaving no one behind.

Background and Problem Statement

Recently, the healthcare sector in India adopted the technological changes and innovation processes to make it possible for the IT powered services. With the support coming from their skillful and empowered healthcare providers, there is a significant change in the hospital services. The clinical functions that are under the computerization process and administration are considered one of the best applications of the globalization in the industry (Virk, Khan, and Kumar, 2006). Due to the continuous changes in healthcare sector such as the recognizable good healthcare services, it created a great impact in the level of consumer behavior. Because of the increasing cost of healthcare services, there are increasing numbers of people who cannot avail the promise of quality healthcare services. In the exploration of the past studies, the adoption of technologies that pushed the development also became the underpinning reason in the healthcare infrastructure and network.

Research Aim and Objectives

The main aim of the study centers in the investigation of consumer behavior particularly in the Private Healthcare Industry in India. In order to achieve the best results and organize it well, there are three important objectives that the study should supply. First is to determine the recent changes that created a great flow in healthcare services. Second is to recognize the various applications of healthcare services that increase its level of approach in the patients and thereby, compare the application of the healthcare services. And third is to discuss the existing governmental policies that bounds to control the continuous increase in healthcare services and products.

Literature Review

Many organizations like the Wockhardt Hospital Group and Apopllo Hospital Group implemented the IT in the healthcare industry. The introduction of the technological standards increases the operational budget of the respected hospitals (Virk, Khan, and Kumar, 2006). Apparently, it is reported than an average Indian consumer spending has increase from US$ 133.60 in 1992-93 to US$ 350.74 in 2002-03. And on the parcel of medical and healthcare spending has increased from 3.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent of total expenditure over the same period, a compound growth rate of 19.71 per cent (Chennai, 2005). The problem now centers on how will the Indian consumers maintain the level of spending if there is a continuous increase, makes it impossible to acquire the equitable, affordable and quality health care (SEARO, 2010).  It became more challenging for the consumers since the economy is not fully recovered from the impact of global recession. The India, however, is considered to be at their utmost control over the industrialization taking the slow recovery path which allows the businesses to redirect the attention and strategizing. In the aspect of healthcare, the consumer behavior draws changes through the use of two decision processes, particularly in the adoption of goods. It centers in the rational problem-solving process, when the consumer becomes aware of the problem and then looks for a solution and; the rational innovation, when the consumer becomes aware of the innovation before he recognizes the problem (Campbell, 2006).

Methodology

The suggested method in the study is the utilization of survey and interview among the two of private hospitals in India – Wockhardt Hospital, which is a tertiary care hospital group, and Apollo Hospitals group, which is recognized as the leading private hospital group in the country. In the first phase of the study, the survey will be implemented on the facilities of both hospitals. The participants were likely the patients and out-patients. The questionnaires that will use as the main material of the survey will be in a form of Likert Scale that effectively measure the appeal of healthcare services among the consumers. In the second phase of the study is the use of interview, which the participants are the healthcare providers and managers of the hospital. The knowledge that can be gained through the interview centers on how the people will assess their performance in the healthcare industry. However, the study is looking forward to create a comparison between the private hospitals to draw the conclusion on what is the best hospital that can deliver the quality of healthcare and services. 

 

References:

Campbell, M., (2006) “Consumer Behaviour and Contraceptive Decisions: Resolving a Decades-long Puzzle”, Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, 32(4), Accessed 21 June 2010, from http://bixby.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Consumer-behaviour-contraceptive-decisions-10.06.pdf

Chennai, M., (2005) “Product Market Study: Consumer Behavior in India”

SEARO, (2010) “Health Insurance in India: Current Scenario”, Social Health Insurance Regional Overview in South-East Asia, Accessed 21 June 2010, from http://www.searo.who.int/linkfiles/social_health_insurance_an2.pdf

Virk, P., Khan, S., & Kumar, V., (2006) “India HIT Case Study”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, Accessed 21 June 2010, from http://www.pacifichealthsummit.org/downloads/HITCaseStudies/Economy/IndiaHIT.pdf

 

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