Health Economics Education and Application in India: Gaps and Opportunities

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Speaker:

Andria J. N. Sirur is an Assistant Professor in Health Economics at the Manipal School of Commerce and Economics, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (An Institute of Eminence), Manipal, India. Her work focuses on health systems, economic evaluation, healthcare policy, and evidence-based research to support informed decision-making in public health and healthcare management. Passionate about academic excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration, she is committed to advancing research, teaching, and innovation in the field of health economics.

Join Dr Andrai J. N. Sirur for a discussion on Health Economics Education and Application in India: Gaps and Opportunities. Despite the growing recognition of its importance, health economics in India remains underdeveloped. Specialised training in health economics, health systems, and financing is scarce, with limited undergraduate instruction and only a few graduate or certificate programmes available. Whilst there has been an acknowledgement of the pertinence of health economics within public health curricula, there is a paucity of uniformity with regard to the depth and consistency of the relevant courses offered by different institutions. Interdisciplinary collaboration with health institutes is weak, and international research partnerships rarely translate into stronger domestic teaching capacity. The number of professionals trained in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) – a critical component of evaluating the cost-effectiveness of medical treatments – remains limited, with a significant proportion of research output contingent on international collaboration. A further significant challenge pertains to the absence of comprehensive health system datasets. In the absence of standardised cost data, economic evaluation, and evidence-based priority setting are impeded, which in turn complicates policy decisions. The development of high-quality curricula is further hindered by shortages of qualified teaching faculty and uneven institutional capacity. Collectively, these structural barriers impede India’s capacity to institutionalise health economics within academic training and health system governance.