Affordable diagnostics--changing the paradigm in India

A successful strategy for developing affordable diagnostics begins with a shift in viewpoint. Diagnostics is a tool for generating clinical information. Amassed experience in different parts of the globe has shown that this process of generating and utilizing clinical information is not only different among various countries but also different in microenvironments within the same country. The development of affordable diagnostics requires consideration not only of the component costs such as hardware and consumables but also other related costs that contribute to the generation and delivery of that information. It is important to recognize that these costs associated with public health in resource-poor settings cannot remain at the mercy of charitable contributions from western nations. Therefore, the challenge of technological innovation is to create solutions that are locally affordable and sustainable in the long run within the local macroeconomic constraints. The solutions should permit generation of local economic activity that will reinforce long-term economic sustainability. For this reason it is essential not only to analyze the diagnostic process but also to define a pathway by which local healthcare systems in recipient nations can be endowed with elements that empower them to acquire and practice up-to-date modern diagnostic skills. The objective of this paper is to provide a wider view of diagnostic cost components and to show how solutions developed and delivered locally have resulted in economically affordable as well as sustainable products.