What Has Been the Progress in Building India’s Healthcare and Education Infrastructure till Now in 2023?  

 Healthcare, education, and human capital formation form a triangle. Two achievements speak volumes about the progress in building India’s healthcare and education sectors. First, is India’s major success in its vaccination against COVID19. Second, is the unraveling of the National Education Policy in 2020.   

India has made significant strides in healthcare and education. In healthcare, the country has improved access to medical services and witnessed a decline in certain communicable diseases through widespread vaccination campaigns and disease control programs.   

Additionally, the government’s efforts to strengthen healthcare infrastructure and expand insurance coverage have positively impacted millions of people.   

In education, there has been an increased emphasis on primary education, with a notable rise in enrollment rates and improvements in learning outcomes. The adoption of technology in education has also played a pivotal role in enhancing access to quality education for many, especially in remote areas.  

These success stories in healthcare and education have been and will continue to be shaped by the supply chain powering India’s National Infrastructure Pipeline.  

What Are the Major Opportunities for EPC Infrastructure Companies in Healthcare and Education Infrastructure Construction?    

Opportunities for EPC Infrastructure Companies in Healthcare Infrastructure 

There are 57 projects worth INR 31964 crores under conceptualization in India’s healthcare infrastructure sector. Further, there are 33 projects worth INR 17550 crores which are under development and another 326 projects worth INR 131000 crores which are under implementation.   

Opportunities for EPC Infrastructure Companies in Education Infrastructure  

In the education sector, there are 72 projects worth INR 43157 crores under conceptualization. Another 75 projects worth INR 52119 crores are under development. Moreover, 252 projects worth INR 112000 crores are under implementation.   

What Supply Chain Solutions Do EPC Infrastructure Companies Need to Leverage Opportunities in the Healthcare and Education Sectors?    

Pre-Engineered Building (PEB) Construction Technology Using Steel and RCC  

PEB construction technology can be the answer to India’s requirements of fast healthcare and education infrastructure construction and project completion. 

Pre-engineered buildings are structures designed and fabricated off-site, using computer-aided tools and advanced materials. They are highly versatile, cost-effective, and time-efficient solutions for various construction needs.   

Components are manufactured to precise specifications, enabling easy assembly on-site, reducing construction time significantly. These buildings offer excellent strength, durability, and can be customized to meet specific requirements.   

They find applications in warehouses, factories, commercial spaces, and more. With their sustainable approach, rapid construction, and flexibility, pre-engineered buildings have become a preferred choice for modern construction projects, offering a practical and efficient solution for various industries and applications.  

Prefabricated buildings or pre-engineered buildings are custom manufactured as per the engineering drawing. These can be built either with structural steel or reinforced concrete cement (RCC). Once built these can be carried to the project site and deployed quickly.   

Exactly how quick? There is a recorded instance wherein a 33-storey apartment with 8 flats of 1000 sq.ft built area each, has been deployed in 12 days sharp.   

Imagine the speed of execution of medical healthcare and education infrastructure during crises when we say we need a hospital in no time.   

Vendor Consolidation Across Fabrication, Construction Raw Materials, and Indirect Procurement  

A significant speed breaker in the construction schedule of medical and educational infrastructure is the fragmented supplier base. A project developer may have to rely on diverse suppliers for construction raw materials, fabrication, electricals & cables, drainage systems, pipeline networks and plumbing.   

There are strategic interdependencies among these tasks that call for resource mapping and task mapping. When project developers and sub-contractors work with multiple suppliers, there is a high probability of failures including:  

• Product failure  
• Process failure  
• Systems failure  
• Design failure  

In the absence of a centralized data governance model, it is difficult for the CTO to map business intelligence. It is difficult for the CPO to track spend analytics. The opacity also impedes the ability of the COO to harmonize these activities as per the critical path method.   

This is where vendor consolidation can help EPC project developers act with agility at scale and complete medical and educational infrastructure projects on time.   

Vendor consolidation works when a project developer relies on a procurement outsourcing model to manage all its suppliers. There are multiple layers in the full-stack vendor consolidation model for infrastructure projects.   

First is systems integration across data sets, devices, and departments. Second, is process integration and collaborative planning. A great example of such collaborative planning is the PM Gati Shakti policy. Third is the creation of a single procurement supply chain analytics dashboard as a single source of truth for the CPO, CTO, COO, and the CFO.   

An example of a vendor consolidation success story in healthcare and education infrastructure is that of the Phulbani Medical College in Odisha.   

Solar Rooftop Installations for Self Sufficiency in Renewable Energy Production  

We have all had our share of lessons in public healthcare from the COVID19 pandemic. One of the lessons learned is the importance of hospitals, nursing homes, and diagnostics centers being self-sufficient for energy.  

There are several ways for medical infrastructure projects to tap into renewable energy production. One of the easiest and most affordable ways is to have solar roof top installations.  

The Ministry of Renewable Energy, Government of India under its new solar energy policy has rolled out a substantial subsidy to partly finance solar roof top installations. Further, OEMs and component manufacturers are responding to the clarion calls of “Vocal for Local” and “Make in India” with CAPEX investments for the manufacturing of solar PV cells, wafers, and module mounting structures.   

Solar rooftop installations can enable medical and educational institutions to become self-reliant in energy production. Schools, colleges, medical colleges, hospitals and universities will be better equipped to provide uninterrupted services, if they are able to solve the problem of intermittent power cuts.   

ARC Led Model for Preventive and Breakdown Maintenance  

A pain point that continues to plague India’s education and public healthcare sectors is the lack of preventive and breakdown maintenance of infrastructure assets.   

Such infrastructure assets include drainage systems, sewage systems, drinking water pipelines, electrical wiring, medical beds, and signages that users may need to navigate from one point to another within the college or hospital premises.   

It is in this context that public-private partnership (PPP) models of infrastructure construction can help. PPP models like build-own-operate (BOO) and build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) can help resolve the challenges of student-dropout in schools and help improve medical outcomes in hospitals.   

An annual rate contract led model for indirect procurement can solve the pain points of infrastructure maintenance. An ARC model can bring much needed transparency to line item wise spend analytics and enable on-time replenishment of MRO items as per pre-defined buffer stocks and reordering inventory levels.   

The Catalog for EPC Project Developers and Sub-Contractors That Are Building India’s Utilities Infrastructure    

Moglix offers a comprehensive catalog of construction raw materials procurement, indirect procurement, and custom manufacturing solutions to EPC project developers and sub-contractors.   

To know more about opportunities in the education and healthcare sub-sectors in India’s National Infrastructure Pipeline, download our e-book “Building India: The Infrastructure We Aspire for and the Supply Chain We Need, Second Edition.”