Era of working in silos is over, need synergy between private, public sectors: Dr Jitendra Singh

Ahmedabad, Feb 14 (PTI) Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday stressed the need to have a greater synergy between private and public sectors, stating that their integration was crucial in order to make India a developed nation by 2047.

Singh, who is also a diabetes specialist, said prevention of diabetes was a “national responsibility”, and cautioned people against a “new genre of self-styled counsellors” on health and lifestyle, holding them responsible for “disinformation”.

The Minister of State for Science and Technology, and Earth Sciences, was addressing a gathering of doctors and healthcare experts here after inaugurating the ‘World Congress of Diabetes’, which will continue till February 16.

“We are in an era of integration. Era of working in silos is over. The demarcation between private and public sectors has to be done away with, especially when we have set a target of a developed India by 2047,”

Developed countries never remained dependent either on the public or private sector alone. They were successful because of a very healthy synergy between the two, he noted.

The best example of this synergy is India’s space sector, which has seen a quantum leap in just five years of opening the doors for the private sector, Singh added.

“We were working behind a wheel of secrecy, but for what reason? Once we put it across to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he allowed us to open it to the private sector. In just five years, there was a quantum leap,” he said.

From a few startups in the space sector in the past, India now has about 300 startups, according to him.

“Our space economy was miniscule in the past. Today, it is nearly USD 8 billion, and in the next six to seven years, we hope to go up by almost five times – that is about USD 44 billion. It happened because we are no longer dependent on government resources. The government could be a facilitator,” Singh said.

He also called for collective efforts to fight diabetes and obesity in the country.

“In order to overcome this challenge of diabetes and obesity, I think what is important is to have a very synergised approach. Because preventing diabetes is too serious a problem to be left to a diabetologist…It is a national responsibility. All the stakeholders have to be brought together,” he said.

The Union minister said the next industrial revolution will be bio-economy driven.

“The last one of the 90s was Information Technology (IT)-driven. The entire economy in the next few years is going to witness a paradigm shift from manufacturing to recycling processes. So we are now entering a different kind of era altogether. Technology and Artificial Intelligence are taking over,” he said.

“So, the strategies are also going to change. We have the advantage of having a strong legacy even in the healthcare system, which can be very optimally fused with the cutting edge technology,” he added.

On the occasion, Singh also expressed concerns over unqualified “counsellors” advising people about health and lifestyle.

“A huge, huge caution against a new genre of self-styled counsellors in Delhi. You have a variety of diet charts in the market today. More than information, it is disinformation in this country, which plays havoc,” he cautioned.

“They will impress you with graphs and you think it’s the final truth. Because that’s what is driving our culture today. And unfortunately, you don’t have any regulation for them. and there is no mandatory registration for them like regular doctors,” Singh said.