PeopleHealth is among the few firms that provide such preventive services. The Bangalore-based start-up has developed a tool that takes into account an array of information related to employees’ health, habits and lifestyle to assess the company’s health, and design an adapted preventive healthcare policy.  Based on the results, PeopleHealth generates a health calendar for the company that may include assistance programmes, induction sessions, stress management courses and health plan utilisation incentives. The company caters to fifteen companies that rank among the world’s most popular IT, Internet and BPO firms. “Preventive health care programmes contribute to day-to-day efficiency and have positively impacted employees’ moral and motivation,” says Vikram Karayi, senior vice-president, Human Resources, Xansa India. The information technology firm has implemented an annual mandatory full health check up at the hospital for all its employees who are above 40 years old, along with regular health camps.  “While studying our employees health, we found that many of our employees suffered from chronic cardiovascular illness, diabetes, blood pressure, and earlier detection can effectively reduce incidence of these diseases,” says Richard Lobo, head of employee relations at Infosys. The company, which is the country’s second-biggest software exporter, conducts a host of activities ranging from health check up camps, awareness sessions, counseling support, ergonomics counseling, on-line tools, stress audits, vaccination camps, to specialist consultations.  Preventive health care can provide an answer to rising health insurance premiums. “We offer a hospitalization policy to all employees, their spouse, children and parents. This is critical for us as when our employees go off shore, we should not have to fly them back home in case of a relative has to be hospitalized,” says Lalit Kandpal, manager, compensation and benefits, Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor.  However, while the mindset is slowly changing, most Indian companies still look at preventive health care as a cost, rather than an investment, says Mr Mehdi. “Companies’ approach to health care should become more scientific,” agrees Mr Dutta. “Things may not change overnight, but it is a culture that corporates are slowly building in India,” he adds.    

Britain’s largest private health insurer British United Provident Association (BUPA) is set to enter India to cash in on the booming healthcare services demand, driven by rapidly rising population and growing affluence.

The UK healthcare giant is said to have teamed up with Max New York Life for its foray into the country, and plans to plough some of the £1.44 billion rose from the sale of 25 of its UK hospitals last year, sources said.

BUPA is already present in 190 countries and has over eight million members in Hong Kong, Thailand, Australia. It recently opened an office in China. Last year the company earned revenues of £3.8 billion from insurance in the UK alone and £2.3 billion from international insurance. BUPA has bases in three continents and operates over 300 care homes spread across the United Kingdom. India is thought to be an attractive market for international medical insurance players, with the market growing at a steady 35% year-on-year.

Many firms are keen to expand footprint in the country, either through tie-ups with Indian players or through solo shows. With changes seen in affordability of healthcare, domestic players too have got more aggressive in tapping the huge pool of patients.
“Companies are realising that despite FDI limitations and concerns regarding management control, India offers tremendous opportunities and many are beginning to believe the India story,” says A Parekh of global financial services firm Ernst & Young.

Both BUPA and officials at Max New York Life refused to comment on the deal.

Sources said BUPA is also seeking to expand its profile in the UK by winning contracts under the commissioning of the national health services and by offering new services to British corporate customers, beyond standard employee medical insurance.

To this end, BUPA had teamed up with Mumbai-based Wockhardt Hospitals over five years ago. Wockhardt is on BUPA’s emergency international network of participating hospitals.

This means UK tourists with BUPA insurance have access to medical facilities in India through Wockhardt Hospitals.

“We are entitled to treat them on a cashless basis and we recover the cost from BUPA,” says Vishal Bali, chief executive officer at Wockhardt hospitals.

“Many global players want to participate in healthcare delivery space. And as that market evolves, it has a huge spin-off effect on medical insurance,” Bali said.

With less than 10% of the population covered by medical insurance, the Indian government has taken up the noble cause to provide the same to the country’s 300 million poor, most of whom work in the unorganized sector and are thus deprived of quality healthcare.