India e-health record market to grow at 5% CAGR to 2025

The implementation of UHC will fuel the shift to digital.

As India moves to implement a universal healthcare programme for its billion residents, the electronic health records (EHR) market is tipped to grow at a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5% through 2025, according to a report from data and analytics company GlobalData. 

Through Ayushman Bharat, the Indian government aims to provide healthcare coverage to over 100 million poor and vulnerable families.

The ambitious programme is expected to generate massive volumes of health data, presenting a significant growth opportunity for the EHR market. “[D]igital health records can provide support and accelerate this transformation. EHRs will provide the Indian government with access to direct and reliable healthcare data and information on health conditions.This data will help the government to regulate the cost of treatment and medical research" Rohit Anand, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, said in a report. 

Despite its promise, the implementation of EHR is currently limited to major private hospitals such as Apollo and Fortis & Max, and few government hospitals such as AIIMS.

Lack of awareness, high initial investment, scarcity of trained staff and lack of mandatory guidelines to store healthcare records electronically are a few of the major barriers for low adoption of EHR in India.

"Creating digital support systems in multiple languages is going to be a challenge. Safety and privacy of personal and health data are some of other issues that the government need to address," concluded Anand.