India’s health issues arise from the fact that it is currently passing two transitions. The first called the 'Demographic Transition' occurs when fertility begins to decline. Thus birth rates commence dropping but still outstrip the death rate. Total population thus continues to increase. Considering that we have the world’s largest population of young people is good for the economy, but this also means that we have the largest segment in the reproductive age group too. Thus we aren’t going to see the population dropping very fast anytime soon.  

The second is the 'Epidemiological Transition' where the country is moving from epidemics of infectious diseases to those of the non communicable sort. However even this transition is as yet incomplete. Thus we still have outbreaks of Japanese Encephalitis, Chikungunya and Dengue while we have the chronic burden of Hypertension, Diabetes and heart conditions. 

Team this with the government’s inability to provide affordable healthcare (leave alone the possibility of free) and we can see why India is expected to rank amongst the top three healthcare markets in terms of incremental growth by 2020 and India was the sixth largest market globally in terms of size in 2014. The Indian healthcare sector, is expected to advance at a CAGR of 22.87 per cent during 2015–20 to reach USD 280 billion. There is immense scope for enhancing healthcare services in India, and this presents ample opportunity for development of the healthcare industry.

Other factors that are making the industry boom include societal changes. A large economically productive population, rising levels of income, the desire to live healthy have thus created new markets for preventive health care. 

Further the low cost of medical services compared to other countries has resulted in a rise in the country’s medical tourism, attracting patients from across the world. India is also developing as a hub for R&D activities for international players. In addition to this conducive policies for encouraging FDI, tax benefits, favorable government policies coupled with promising growth prospects have helped the industry attract private equity, venture capitals and foreign players.

Amidst all these, healthcare costs for average Indians are still are still very high and innovative solutions from startups are springing up which could make a significant difference in the fight. Healthcare can be comprehensive and affordable and India is in the midst of change.

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