Facing up to healthcare's financial realities

ASIA faces a crisis of financial sustainability in the healthcare sector. Asean alone spent more than US$63 billion on healthcare in 2013 and the region's ageing population and increasing rates of chronic disease means that this figure is likely to double in the next decade.

Take Singapore as an example. One in five Singaporeans will be over 65 by 2030 and two-thirds of these people will be managing at least one chronic condition. This will put significant pressure on the local healthcare system - and this is not the only pressure point.

Singapore spends more than S$1 billion every year managing diabetic complications and the number of Singaporean diabetics is expected to almost double from 400,000 in 2015 to 700,000 by 2030. It goes without saying that this will add a huge cost and complexity to healthcare management and it is only one of the many lifestyle diseases that are on the rise as a result of changing dietary and lifestyle habits across Asia.