NHA, IIT Delhi collaborate for high-end healthcare innovations

New Delhi: The National Health Authority (NHA) entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. The premiere institute has announced that the collaboration with NHA, as the latter will work with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) supported by SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Financing Facility.

The SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Financing Facility acts as a catalyse market-based health solutions to improve access to affordable and quality healthcare services for poor and vulnerable communities, including the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (ABPM-JAY) beneficiaries.

As per the statement by the institute, NHA and IIT Delhi will support innovative solutions, through this collaboration, to address the needs and priorities of the AB PM-JAY ecosystem.

Dr RS Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority, said, "Through this partnership we will work with diverse health sector players to scale high potential health solutions and amplify the impact of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY. I am extremely confident that in years to come, this partnership will be a key enabler in making quality healthcare services in India more accessible and affordable."

The partnership would focus on rapid scaling and absorption of health innovations across more than 23,000 PM-JAY empanelled hospitals. According to the institute, the innovations supported through the SAMIRDH Facility will improve the health infrastructure, build capacity of healthcare providers, and build effective Covid-19 mitigation.

"We welcome this opportunity to work with the NHA to deconstruct the key challenges in delivering healthcare services across PM-JAY empanelled health facilities, and support enterprises in addressing the gaps with indigenous innovations. SAMRIDH will provide a platform to facilitate affordable capital for scaling up of commercially viable innovations. The facility will also extend mentorship to enterprises from clinical, technology and business experts," said Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi.

leveraging distinct sources to identify innovative healthcare solutions, the initiative will aim to build a platform for diverse set of organisations, including manufacturers/suppliers of drugs, vaccines and health-tech, private healthcare networks, innovation incubators, social enterprises/NGOs, research & academic institutions, to come together towards solving complex healthcare challenges in India.