New Delhi: India’s healthcare sector is witnessing a rapid influx of private capital, reshaping hospitals, diagnostics, medtech and health-tech while driving expansion and innovation. However, the growing role of private equity has also intensified concerns around patient affordability, access, quality of care and the long-term priorities of healthcare delivery.
Against this backdrop, ETHealthworld’s 6th Healthcare Leaders Summit, will bring together healthcare leaders, policymakers, investors and practitioners to examine the tensions between capital, care and affordability under the theme “Cracking India’s Healthcare Conundrum: Patient, Private Equity & Affordability.”
The summit will also explore the economics of hospital operations, patient retention, medtech and robotic-assisted surgery, nutrition, artificial intelligence, medical education and people-centric models of care, and how India can balance the need for investment and innovation with the larger social sector imperative of ensuring equitable and affordable healthcare.
With the participation of key industry leaders, policymakers, and healthcare professionals, the summit will bring some of the most influential voices shaping the next phase of Indian healthcare, offering perspectives on capital, care and the choices that lie ahead.
The annual flagship event is presented by Women Lead India Alliance and Dasra, in association with Intuitive, with gold partner Medtronic, wellness partners Dr. Reddy’s and Nestle Health Science, associate partners Pioneer Client Associates Pvt. Ltd and DavaIndia, supporting partners 5C Network (India) Pvt. Ltd and IliveConnect; and exhibit partners Conversive and WorkSpace.
The summit will commence with opening remarks by Prathiba Raju, Associate Editor, ETHealthworld.
Following the opening remarks, Abhay Soi, Chairman and Managing Director, Max Healthcare, will deliver a keynote address.
The keynote will set the stage for the inaugural panel discussion, Rise of Private Equity in Indian Healthcare: Capital, Care and Control.
Panelists include Dr. Girdhar Gyani, President, AHPI, distinguished Prof. K. Srinath Reddy, Chancellor of the PHFI Institute of Public Health Sciences, Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder and Director, Ujala Cygnus Hospitals, Harsh Mahajan, Founder & Chairman, Mahajan Imaging and Labs, Sandhya Sriram, Group CFO, Narayana Health, Himanshu Kohli, Co-founder, Client Associates, and Dr. Devlina Chakravarty, Chief Executive Officer, Artemis Hospitals.
The discussion will be moderated by Vikas Dandekar, Editor-Pharma and Healthcare, The Economic Times Group.
The conversation will then shift to the role of technology, with an industry panel on From Innovation to Impact: Role of MedTech in building the future of healthcare.
Panelists include Dr. Gurpreet Singh, Executive VP Hospital Operations and Zonal Head, Max Hospital, Dr. Ritu Garg, Chief Growth and Information Officer, Fortis Hospital, Dr. Randeep Wadhawan, Chairman GI, Minimal Access, Robotic & Bariatric Surgery, MAX Super Speciality Hospital, Mr. Vipul Jain, CEO, C.K Birla Hospitals, and Mandeep Singh Kumar, Managing Director and Vice President, Medtronic India.
The industry panel will be followed by a plenary address by Shailaja Chandra, Former Chief Secretary, Government of NCT of Delhi.
The summit will next feature an industry panel by Dr Nandan Joshi, Head – Medical & Scientific Affairs, Dr. Reddy’s and Nestle Health Science, on the topic: “Beyond the Plate – Optimizing Nutrition for Better Patient Outcomes.”
The programme will also feature a fireside chat titled Managing the Social Sector Imperative in a PE-Owned Healthcare Enterprise with Dilip Jose, Managing Director and CEO, Manipal Hospitals, moderated by Vikas Dandekar, Editor-Pharma & Healthcare, The Economic Times Group.
The discussion will be followed by a spotlight session with Ameera Shah, Promoter and Executive Chairperson, Metropolis Healthcare, moderated by Prathiba Raju, Associate Editor, ETHealthworld.
Dr. Shraddha Kulkarni, Senior Manager, Dasra, will then deliver an industry presentation.
The spotlight on leadership will continue with an industry panel on Women in Leadership Healthcare, presented by Dasra. Panelists include Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder and Director, Ujala Cygnus Hospitals, Dr. Evita Fernandez, Chairperson, Fernandez Foundation, Dr. Upasana Arora, Group Managing Director and CEO, Yashoda Medicity, and Shefali Tomar, Vice President, People and Culture, C.K Birla Hospital. The discussion will be moderated by Vikas Dandekar, Editor-Pharma and Healthcare, The Economic Times Group.
Following a networking luncheon, the summit will resume with a session on From Technology to Patient Access: Building the Future of Robotic-Assisted Surgery in India, featuring Rohitt Mahajan, Vice President and General Manager, Intuitive India, moderated by Vikas Dandekar, Editor-Pharma and Healthcare, The Economic Times Group.
The focus will then turn to hospital economics and patient retention through a panel discussion on Plugging Revenue Leakage in Hospitals Through Structured Patient Retention.
Panelists include Dr. Sameer Kulkarni, CEO, L.H Hiranandani Hospital, Dr. Santosh Shetty, CEO and Executive Director, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Vipul Jain, CEO, C.K Birla Hospital, Nitin Nag, CEO, Ujala Cygnus Hospitals, and Dr. Sujit Paul, Group CEO, Zota Healthcare (DavaIndia). The discussion will be moderated by Prathiba Raju, Associate Editor, ETHealthworld.
The summit will continue with an industry panel on The Economics of Nutrition: Can Better Nutrition Reduce the Cost of Acute Care?
Panelists include Dr. Harsh Sapra, Vice Chairman and Head, Neuro-Anesthesia and Neuro Critical Care, Medanta, The Medicity Hospital, Gurugram, Dr. Rajat Agarwal, Director Critical Care, Fortis, Okhla, Delhi, Dr. Himaal Dev, Head of Department and Lead Consultant for Critical Care, Apollo Hospitals, and Dr. Eileen Canday, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital.
The discussion will be moderated by Dr Nandan Joshi, Head – Medical and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Reddy’s and Nestle Health Science.
Attention will then turn to artificial intelligence with a panel discussion on Is ‘AI’ the Care Catalyst Expanding Reach, Scaling Impact? Panelists include Dr. Krithika Rangarajan, Associate Professor, Oncoradiology, AIIMS Delhi, J. P. Dwivedi, CIO, Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Center, Dr. Mona Duggal, Director, National Institute for Research in Digital Health and Data Science, ICMR, and Kalyan Sivasailam, Co-Founder, 5C Network.
The discussion will be moderated by Prathiba Raju, Associate Editor, ETHealthworld.
Dr. Abhay Bang, Chairman, SEARCH (Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health), will then deliver a special guest address titled In Search of a People-Centric Model of Healthcare.
After a networking break, the summit will feature an industry presentation by Dr. Rahul Chandola, Founder and Chairman, Institute of Heart Lungs Disease Research Centre, on behalf of I Live Connect.
The programme will then move to a fireside chat with Guest of Honour Sonam Wangchuk, Engineer, Education Reformist and Environmentalist, Co-Founder, SECMOL and HIAL.
The summit will conclude its discussion sessions with a trialogue on The Real Story of Medical Education Expansion in India: Accessible, Affordable or Illusion?, featuring Dr. Chaitra B.A., President, Medical Students’ Association of India (MSAI), and Dr. Pankaj Mittal, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU), with the discussion moderated by Dr. Rajib Dasgupta, Head, Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU.
The summit will be followed in the evening by the ETHealthAwards Ceremony and a networking cocktail and dinner.
