Healthcare in India

The challenge of understanding and designing for healthcare is a global concern. During the months of December 201 through January 2014 I consulted on the future of health care in India with a team of six people on behalf of Godrej & Boyce. They one of India’s largest privately-held diversified industrial corporations. This ambitious challenge was also conceived as an opportunity to teach user-centered design methods. As part of a six person team, I was one of three Institute of Design graduate students paired with three Godrej employees. We collaborated to deliver a concept and strategy to the company’s executive suite.

As India emerges onto the world stage as a economic power, it faces an urgent need to address it’s healthcare infrastructure. There is an opportunity to learn from the world’s other healthcare systems successes and failures to mold one here that balances the country’s transition to modernity and it’s distinct culture, history, and language. There are challenges to meet: India has the highest number of medical colleges in the world, yet there are not enough doctors or hospital beds to serve the growing population. The country has 9 hospital beds per 10,000 persons; the World Health Organization recommends 35 hospital beds per 10,000 persons. Contextually this made more complex by the gap in wealth between the extremely poor and fabulously wealthy.

Godrej is poised to take action in this space and asked the team to investigate and define strategic opportunities in the healthcare sector. The process included: conducting multiple stakeholder and patient interviews, creating value webs to understand a complex and broken system, applying frameworks for analysis and synthesis, communicating the concept through storytelling, and providing a roadmap and business case.

Teammates: Sarah Ekblad, Nalini Kala, Vazir Nadaph, Jayesh Nandode, Ariel Rudolph

Details of this project cannot be disclosed.