As India buckles under an epidemic of non-communicable diseases, experts urged the establishment of “micro-hospitals” that they argue can make a dent in India’s deaths due to NCDs by replacing fragmented tertiary models with specialist-led coordinated care and reduced wait times.
WHO data indicates that NCDs account for an estimated 63 per cent of all deaths in India, they said. The density of hospital beds is a mere 0.55 per 1,000 population-exceptively lower than the WHO benchmarks of 3/1,000-resulting in overcrowding, long waiting time, and other variations in care quality.
Experts said despite India having world-class technology and infrastructure, its healthcare system has a huge “middle-layer gap” comprising micro-hospitals between the primary clinics and the hospitals with as many as 500 beds that are perpetually overcrowded, causing fragmented care and an ever-widening trust deficit between doctors and patients.
Addressing the HEAL OneHealth Connect Series — health talk organised to nurture a culture of wellness and preventive care — Dr Jagdish Prasad, former Director General Health Services (DGHS), Union health ministry, said, “India has the doctors and the technology, but what we truly lack is continuous, coordinated care.”
And large tertiary hospitals are often designed for acute crises, not the long-term, community-centred management that NCDs require, he explained. “Micro-hospitals represent a necessary structural correction, bringing consultations, diagnostics and follow-ups under one roof to restore the lost trust between patients and providers,” he said.
“This model of micro-hospitals is fast emerging as a new blueprint to bridge this gap in access and quality,” said experts. Unlike smaller nursing homes, micro-hospitals are purpose-built, specialist-led facilities offering 360-degree care-from advanced diagnostics to surgical interventions-closer to residential communities and preventing the ‘patient shuffling’ when patients are forced to visit multiple laboratories and clinics for a single diagnosis.
Dr Mohsin Wali, Senior Consultant, Medicine, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital said, “The psychological cost of the system as it is today is that patients feel overwhelmed by the scale and cold complexity of large hospitals. It is the micro-hospitals that bring back the essentials-time, communication, and coordination-to create the experience of care, not just its efficient delivery.”
According to Dr. Swadeep Srivastava, Co-founder and President of Pacific OneHealth, “The future of health is not about building bigger hospitals; it is about building better-aligned systems. Micro-hospitals are not ‘smaller’ versions of big hospitals; they are a new philosophy of ‘healthcare as it should be’, designed around the family, the community, and long-term health outcomes.”
The HEAL OneHealth Connect Series was organised by Pacific OneHealth in association with the HEAL Foundation here this week. “Most lifestyle diseases develop silently and by the time a patient reaches a tertiary hospital, the damage is irreversible,” said Dr Aijaz Ilmi, consultant physician-metabolic diseases, Delhi. “We want this micro-hospital structure to capture the patients at an early stage and give them a specialized intervention before it becomes a life-threatening emergency,” Ilmi said. Seema Wilson, General Manager, Patient Care Experience, Pacific OneHealth, added, “Shorter wait times, clear communication, and personalized care pathways alleviate anxiety and enhance adherence. Micro-hospitals are not smaller hospitals – they are purpose-built around patients and communities, reducing fragmentation and enhancing access to specialists.”
