The past, present, and future of health economics in India

Health economics has long been neglected as a subset of the larger discipline of Economics and Finance. However, this could not be further from the truth. There is a large body of researchers and professionals alike that are of the consensus that extensive studying and working upon Healthcare Economics can help us avert the situation that arose in the wake of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Applying the core principles of Health Economics to a situation like that would help avert bad outcomes. In this article, the authors begin by defining and establishing the concepts of Health Economics and then building on them. We further explain the concepts in light of the Indian Economy and Healthcare Sector and how it has seen unprecedented growth in the last decade. Furthermore, we touch on the various diseases that put the most strain on the healthcare infrastructure and what we can do to make the situation better. We also shed light on how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Health Economics in the Indian setting and go on to elaborate how India managed to tackle it. Finally, we elaborate on what steps we can take, as researchers and healthcare professionals, to make it easier for the common man to get access to better and more economical healthcare. We determine the importance and effectiveness of data collection and processing and also how to make better research attempts to study, evaluate and process that said data. The onus falls on the academic and the healthcare professional to ensure that the true meaning of Health Economics is not reduced to a mere numbers game, but is something which is truly subjective and for the benefit of the masses.