Conference ReportBetter Healthcare Through CSR – Partnership & Innovations24th Sep 2013 – India International Centre, New Delhi.

THE CONTEXT

Recently Organization for Economic Co – Operation and Development (OECD) stated that India is the world’s third largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP).Indian economy has been recording relatively better growth rate when compared to that of the developed countries. The number of high net worth individuals ( HNIs ) has been increasing year after year and Indian companies are acquiring European companies and strengthening their global presence; giving obvious signs of economic prudence.

With an annual investment of over INR 1800cr by Public Sector Enterprises ( PSUs ) on CSR and expected annual investment of INR 10000cr by companies under clause 135 of the New Companies Bill 2013, there are huge opportunities to improve healthcare services and infrastructure through CSR partnerships.

THE CONTEXT

In this evolving context of CSR, it is the right time for the companies, civil society organizations and government to come together to discuss and explore various models for partnerships, innovations and approaches.

The broader objectives of the conference are to :

Discuss the scope of engaging businesses in healthcare. Explore cross – sector partnerships through CSR. Present ICT enabled innovative models and options for replication and scaling up.

We The Team Fiinovation

As a pioneer in opportunity evaluation in the third sector, Fiinovation endeavors in evaluating appropriate , feasible and sustainable solutions. Through its research facility and well defined mechanism, Fiinovation not only facilitates to obtain sufficient resource for specific programs but also ensures that the conceptualized and funded program is -

initiated with respect to the outcomes as demarcated in the beginning of the program through proactive and concept based engagement with all stakeholders of the program.

The core competency of the company that sets it apart is its Asia’s first Proposal Research Lab to conduct in-depth research while preparing proposals.

Fiinovation facilitates solutions for Civil society organizations working in Health, Education, Livelihood & Environment portfolio.

Conference Report

Fiinovation in collaboration with FICCI, Aditya Birla Centre for CSR Excellence and NGOBOX held a conference on 24 September 2013 in India International Centre, New Delhi.

The forum also deliberated on the issues of innovation in healthcare with multiple partners of CSR like corporations, government and civil society and scope for scaling up the same. CSR in India has been observed to take many imperative turns at multiple levels of governance and policy making. With the advent of the New Companies Act, CSR has found a new meaning in Indian context.

The participants and speakers in the conference were eminent names from government sector including Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee, CEO Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs being the Chief Guest and Dr. Vishwas Mehta (IAS), Joint Secretary Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. Of India being the Guest of Honour. Experts from corporate sector and non-governmental sector were present at the conference who provided with valuable inputs and innovative ideas in the field of healthcare through CSR.

The conference did highlight the extreme potential of CSR in the field of healthcare that can bring about a paradigm shift in the way we conceive health and wellness. The ways of how healthcare could be more cost effective, technologically advanced and holistic were discussed in an analytical framework.

INAUGURAL SESSION

Welcome Note

The session started by a welcome note by Dr. K.K Upadhyay, Head CSR, FICCI. Dr. Upadhyay deliberated on the subject of healthcare which is not the core focus area of intervention in Indian scenario. He added that there has not been much focus on the framework of CSR and healthcare.

Although civil society has worked with government but still a gap needs to be bridged by more alliance and partnerships of civil society, corporate sector and the government. He mentioned about the advent of new Companies Act in the country which is an emerging landscape but still a conundrum. He ended his note by welcoming all the speakers and participants and opened house for thoughtful discussions and deliberations on avenues of business engagement in healthcare and scope for scaling up the innovations.

Dr. K.K Upadhyay, Head CSR, FICCI

Session Proceedings

Address by the Chief Guest: Dr. Bhasker Chaterjee, Director General and CEO, IICA

Dr. Chaterjee provided an in-depth account of the much discussed CSR provisions in the newly enacted Companies Bill. He focused on the key questions of how the provisions came into existence? What was the need for the same? What have been government’s expectations from the same and what are roles of corporate and civil society?

Key points highlighted:

1- The new Companies Law has a distinctive definition of CSR and there is no scope of other definitions to be a part of the same. CSR in new legislation is described in terms of hard cash spent by the companies in the activities listed in the Schedule 7 of the Act.2- The companies need to reveal projects undertaken and if the initiatives by the corporations are not rupee measurable they cannot be qualified to be called CSR. 3 - The mandatory 2% spending should be a part of profit before the tax (PBT). The CSR activities need to be strictly in coherence with the nine activities listed and other activities may be prescribed by relevant authorities if need be. 4 - It was calculated that approximately 8000 companies would be attracted by this provision in the regulation. In terms of CSR expenditure of such companies, it is estimated that approximately 10 thousand crore to 12 thousand crore rupees would be spent in the first year which could increase upto 15 to 17 thousand crore in the consecutive year.

Session Proceedings

Keynote Address by: John A. Beed, Mission Director, USAID-India

Mr. John A. Beed presented some innovative models of CSR which do have the capability to bring in immense positive effect in the society. Innovative partnership models were discussed which could lead to significant transformation of business model. Indian scenario was discussed and it was mentioned that around 30 years ago, 80% funding came from donor agencies but in the present scenario, India has become a development partner.

Key points highlighted:1-There is a need to rethink ways to do business and USAID-India focuses on the same. 2- Over the past two decades India has emerged as an increasingly influential global actor and an indispensable partner of the U.S. 3 - India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world; on pace to become the world’s third largest economy by 2025. 4 -Back in 1951, India was the world’s largest aid recipient. Today it is a key global development partner, financing development cooperation in more than 60 developing countries though the Development Partnership Administration (DPA). 5- Many development challenges continue to exist in India. India remains home to the world’s largest concentration of poor people.6 - Its growing population and increasing scarcity of natural resources, combined with escalating demands for improvements in the delivery of basic services, compel India to deliver more value for less cost to more people.

Session Proceedings

Keynote Address by: Bhargav Dasgupta, Managing Director &CEO, ICICI Lombard GIC. Ltd.

First innovative example was provided in the case of Out-Patient (OPD) Initiative wherein ICICI Lombard foundation provided grant to enhance OPD system. The innovation was to add-on additional programmes to the Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojna (RSBY) cards which already existed and were provided by the government. A mobile based application was invented which empirically showed the results increasing upto 15000 OPD claims in a month where the project was piloted. The second example of innovation was of Road Safety Insurance initiatives for saving lives. The scheme focuses on the cashless treatment of road accident victims on national highways in the crucial golden hour after the accident. State of Art life support ambulances were provided for this purpose having real time tracking with GPS. The pilot project aims at cashless treatment in Gurgaon –Jaipur NH 8 highway with a fleet of GPS enabled ambulatory services, a 24*7 call centre and 44 empanelled hospitals.

The session started with Mr. Dasgupta focussing on the importance of health insurance as a platform of CSR in India. He mentioned that ICICI Lombard spends 1% of its profits towards the company’s foundation. He explained the innovation in healthcare sector through CSR which was taken up through two case studies.

Session Proceedings

Keynote Address by: Parul Soni, Executive Director, Ernst & Young

Mr. Parul Soni highlighted on the healthcare programmes initiated by the government of India and focussed on the remarkable initiatives taken up. Providing the example of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Clinical Act and RSBY, Parul underlined the fact that there is great scope for partnerships. The emerging avenue of medical tourism was also talked about which could be a potential area for more research and innovations. The flip-side of the Indian healthcare scenario was talked about in terms of great urban rural divide in the field. Citing the Indian example, he added that the healthcare sector provides approximately 17% growth per annum thus there is a huge demand for investment and innovation in the sector.

Key points highlighted:

• There is a great potential for change in healthcare sector in India thus innovations and investments need to be done in order to harness maximum benefit for economy and primarily the society. • Formulation of well defined strategy to change the perspectives. • Quality of healthcare needs to be taken into serious account. • Process technology innovation has to be looked into when we talk about healthcare. • Public Private Partnership (PPP) impacts on healthcare interventions should be measurable