Profitability of domestic hospital sector would continue to improve in the current as well as next financial year driven by enhanced coverage under Ayushman Bharat as well as deeper expansion in smaller towns, says Crisil Ratings. The improvement in demand will also be driven by alterations made to healthcare delivery models by hospital chains to align with regulatory changes as well as factors like increasing lifestyle diseases and medical tourism. “With insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat scheme (up from Rs 1-3 lakh under various government schemes), preference for private hospitals is rising,” Crisil Ratings said. The Crisil study covering 41 leading domestic hospital firms revealed that the bed additions in tier II cities will be higher in future, resulting in better materialisation of latent demand and adoption of Ayushman Bharat schemes.

(Economic Times)