NITI Aayog, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) have announced a partnership under the Sustainable Access to Markets and Resources for Innovative Delivery of Healthcare (SAMRIDH) initiative, to improve access to affordable and quality healthcare for populations at risk in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and rural and tribal regions. In 2020, USAID, IPE Global, and stakeholders from the Indian government, academia, and the private sector had developed the innovative SAMRIDH blended finance facility to combine the public and philanthropic funds with commercial capital to create and rapidly scale market-based health solutions.
The new partnership between NITI Aayog and UDAID will leverage AIM’s expertise in innovation and entrepreneurship, will amplify SAMRIDH’s efforts in reaching out to vulnerable populations. Atal Innovation Mission and SAMRIDH will leverage philanthropic capital, and public sector resources to overcome barriers for commercial investments in small and medium health enterprises to invest and scale healthcare solutions. The new partnership will focus on innovations covering the healthcare landscape with the common goal to organize an effective response to the ongoing third wave of Covid-19 and to build the health system preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks and medical emergencies.
CEO of NITI Aayog, Mr Amitabh Kant said while speaking at the virtual launch of the event that blended financing has the potential to redefine the development finance, thru partnership enablement that will unlock pools of affordable capital for scaling-up businesses that deliver both financial as well as social returns.
He further said that considering the disruptions brought about by the pandemic, and its continued threat, there is no sector more important than healthcare that needs an increased and quick pace of reforms and increased investments, so as to ensure that everyone has access to affordable and quality healthcare services. There lies a unique opportunity to catalyze the healthcare space with innovation and entrepreneurship using innovative financing opportunities like blended finance that will leverage philanthropic funding and hence reduce the risk for commercial investments. This approach will enable increased private capital infusion to fill the current financial gap in the health sector and will build an enabling ecosystem for the adoption of innovation in the health care systems.
Mission Director Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog Dr Chintan Vaishnav said, highlighting the focus of the call for proposals that the Atal Innovation Mission and SAMRIDH will pursue and explore solutions from innovators and entrepreneurs on multiple topics, including on the solutions to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure, solutions to improve the diagnostic products and services, build the capacity of health care workers, and tactics for communication and behavior change. He further said that there will be a focus on mental health solutions, with an emphasis on providing support to healthcare providers and patients recovering from the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Reflecting on the NITI Aayog and USAID partnership
Veena Reddy, the USAID/India Mission Director said that USAID celebrates the success of SAMRIDH in this new partnership which aims to strengthen India’s health care systems with the help of sustainable business solutions and innovations. This collaboration will promote the shared commitment of the Atal Innovation Mission, the NITI Aayog and the USAID to infuse out-of-the-box financing solutions, hence promoting greater investments towards improving healthcare services for India’s most vulnerable populations.
Calling attention to the new pathways to improve health systems in India, Ashwajit Singh, the Managing Director of IPE Global, said that the disruptions brought in by the Covid-19 have amplified the gaps in health care systems, but have also brought to the front the opportunities to accelerate India’s healthcare reforms. He said that the USAID-supported SAMRIDH initiative takes a holistic approach to provide financial and technical support to enterprises that bring forward unique propositions to address complex health care challenges. The partnership with AIM and NITI Aayog will strengthen SAMRIDH’s efforts to scale up sustainable healthcare models and to demonstrate cutting-edge financing mechanisms to improve the quality of spending in the health sector.
A white paper titled ‘Reimagining Healthcare in India through Blended Finance’ was released, after the opening remarks from various leaders. The white paper offered an outline and analysis of the blended finance model and its role in promoting healthcare access in India. It also included case studies on how to apply blended finance approaches and examined the current challenges in achieving blended financing at large scale. The event progressed with a call for proposals from innovators and entrepreneurs, particularly from women-led enterprises, working on high impact health innovations in India. The event concluded with the panel discussion on the need to scale the blended financing market solutions and innovations in the Indian healthcare ecosystem.
