New Delhi, April 17: The coronavirus pandemic has had an adverse impact on India's private healthcare sector, according to a study jointly conducted by FICCI and EY, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The study shows 70-80 percent drop in footfall and 50-70 percent decline in revenue of private hospitals in the last 10 days of March 2020. Many small hospitals and nursing homes, especially in tier-II and III cities, have been forced to close down their operations since their cash flows have dried-up, the FICCI-EY study observed. Coronavirus Tracker Live.

"Private healthcare sector will witness an acute crisis due to COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown, which has resulted in occupancy levels to fall to a mere 40 percent by late-March," the FICCI-EY report said. "Impact on diagnostic labs is even worse, with almost 80 percent fall in patient visits and revenue," it added. Dr Sangita Reddy, President of FICCI, said the private healthcare sector is facing multiple issues which need immediate attention. Lockdown Reduced Doubling Rate of Coronavirus Cases, India's Ratio Between Recoveries And Deaths Better Than Many Countries: Health Ministry.

"The private healthcare sector in India has stood besides the government firmly to contain the virus and is deeply committed to the war against COVID-19. However, there is an urgent need to consider the healthcare industry’s triple burden viz. low financial performance in pre-COVID state; sharp drop in out-patient footfalls, diagnostic testing, elective surgeries and international patients across the sector is impacting cash flow; and the increased investments due to COVID-19; which has impacted the hospitals and laboratories like never before," Dr Sangita Reddy said.

Kaivaan Movdawalla from EY India expressing concern over the adverse impact of coronavirus and subsequent lockdown on the private healthcare sector. "While the private sector stands fully committed to partner with the government as a national duty, it truly finds itself in a compelling situation to beseech the government for 'differential' financial forbearance measures and to be supported well, in order to best utilise its capabilities and capacity to serve the nation in this hour of crisis," Movdawalla said.

The FICCI-EY report recommended government support through liquidity infusion for financing of the operating losses through short term interest-free/ concessional interest rate loans to address the liquidity gap to the tune of Rs 14,000 -24,000 crore, besides tax reliefs and other waivers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 17, 2020 05:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).