1 week Ago
: Bengaluru: As more and more Indians get diagnosed with cancer every year, new-age hospital chains have been evolving to provide innovative technology-driven detection and treatment—and investors seemed quite interested in riding the wave. But as funding dried up across the startup ecosystem both in India and globally the past two years, oncology-focused hospitals have borne the brunt. Cancer is among the most prevalent diseases in India, with the number of patients expected to increase to 1.
57 million by 2025 from 1.4 million in 2020, according to a report last month by Apollo Hospitals, among India’s largest multispeciality hospital chains that also provides oncology treatment. “Yesteryear’s cardiology is today’s oncology," said Ajai Kumar, founder and executive chairman of Healthcare Global Enterprises Ltd, a hospital chain specialising in cancercare.
“With the number of cancer cases rising tremendously, healthcare providers are jumping to grab the business opportunity." Investors, as well as conglomerates such as the Reliance Group and Tata Group, were quick to jump on the opportunity, as oncology-focused facilities providing comprehensive care under one roof offered a refreshing take over the decades-old model of multispecialty hospitals. But globally, investors have backpedalled amid an unrelenting funding crunch.
Investments into the global oncology sector dropped to $9.2 billion in 2023 from $12.1 billion in the year prior and $23.
5 in 2021, according to .
