India can become global healthcare exemplar, says NHS England chair

Dr Penny Dash, Chair of NHS England, said India could become a global exemplar in healthcare provision, citing its use of technology and standardised processes to expand access at significantly lower costs than developed systems. Dash highlighted India's early adoption of standardised operating processes and technology to "democratise access to healthcare," delivering high-quality care for dramatically lower unit costs despite huge and diverse populations. She made the remarks on the Health Tech Hour podcast. The comments come as the NHS faces challenges in care variation and slow innovation adoption. Dash noted India's model could inform mature systems, while also criticising existing electronic health records for storing data as PDFs rather than structured formats.