What happens when profit-driven transnational financial investors enter into poorly regulated healthcare systems in LMICs like India? How are hospital chains, laboratories and other healthcare providers affected when they are bought up by private financial investors? What do the accompanying patterns of oligopolistic healthcare corporatisation look like? What are the impacts on management and frontline healthcare providers in hospitals?
Two recently completed papers on financialisation and corporatisation of healthcare in India (supported by UNU-IIGH) will be presented during this webinar. One paper traces the patterns and trends of financial investments in India, tendencies towards monopolisation and corporate incomes, while examining case studies of selected healthcare corporates, and the role of Development Financing Institutions (DFIs) in this process. The second paper is based on testimonies of doctors and healthcare professionals with experience of working in corporate hospitals. They bear witness to the wide-reaching changes in hospital management practices as well as clinical practice.
In this webinar, the researchers of the two papers mentioned above will present key findings. This will be followed by reflections on healthcare financialisation from a global viewpoint, and from the vantage point of Brazil and Latin America. The session will conclude with an open discussion and inputs from participants, with a view to deepening understanding of the phenomena of financialisation and corporatisation of healthcare.
📅 Date: 30 January 2026
⏰ Time: 12:00–14:00 UTC
The Panel:
- Anand Zachariah, Professor, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India
- Indira Chakravarthi, Independent public health researcher and Visiting Faculty, Ambedkar University, India
- Satyaki Roy, Associate Professor, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development (ISID), New Delhi
- David McCoy, Policy Research Lead, UNU-IIGH
- Leonardo Mattos, Professor, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil & People’s Health Movement, Brazil
- Abhay Shukla, Consultant, UNU-IIGH
