NHS could learn from developing countries about efficiency, conference hears

Innovations in the way healthcare is delivered are coming from the developing world, not Europe or the United States, the former UK health minister Ara Darzi told a conference.

Darzi, chairman of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, told the conference on 26 February on healthcare innovation, organised by the think tank Reform, that emerging economies were more adaptable and willing to adopt new processes at low cost.

“These innovations are seldom about technology but about process. They do not compromise on quality but focus on price reduction,” he said.

Viren Shetty, senior vice president in strategy and planning at the Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital group in India, which provides low cost healthcare in 15 hospitals throughout the country, told the conference that his group’s model was not new—it was simply about …