How Technology Can Impact The Indian Healthcare Industry !
Technology is rapidly changing how people do
everything; from taxis to food delivery, from dating to media consumption and
everything in-between. Healthcare is no exception. There have been many visible
ways in terms of technology impacting healthcare. From microscopes &
stethoscopes invented hundreds of years ago, to MRI machines today, to the goal
of creating a Tricorder in a Star Trek-like future, technology is making sweeping
changes in healthcare and undoubtedly India will be a big beneficiary. The main
drivers, today and in the future, are smartphones, always-on connectivity, big
data and artificial intelligence (AI).
In the way regular mobile phones became
ubiquitous, soon most people in India will have powerful and connected
supercomputers in their pocket as prices for smartphones and internet access
continue to drop and become more accessible. Already many Indians are becoming
more and more health savvy using technology. From searching medical terms, to booking an
appointment at a hospital, or even messaging or video-chatting with a doctor
in another city or state, Indians have more options than ever to take charge of
their health.
Today, wearable health trackers can monitor heart rates
and number of steps taken when you exercise as well as send blood sugar
readings from a glucometer and more. Tomorrow, augmented Reality (AR) or
virtual Reality (VR) will change patient consultations or medical education.
Already monitoring technologies synced to a smartphone can automatically notify
family or healthcare workers know when something is wrong or send an alert for
help, regardless of where a person is located. In India, a person living where
there isn’t nearby access to doctors or healthcare professionals has a greater
opportunity than ever before to access some form of professional health advice
or medical information.
These technologies are immediately valuable
and tangible for an individual, but analysing information across many people is
where we can spot important trends that can help large numbers of people in
India and beyond. Because we can now track everything: from location, to vital
signs, to disease and drug outcomes across millions of people; a vast amount of
data is being generated. As such, gathering data, organizing it, and creating
positive outcomes from it become more and more important. This is where the
application of artificial intelligence techniques such as machine learning will
help us understand big data sets and help us make the right healthcare
decisions.
These lesser visible, though no less important
of the technology pillars, will impact everything in healthcare – from
treatment protocols, to pharma research, from nano-technology to robotic
surgery. Such technology will empower doctors and healthcare professionals,
individually and collectively and India will become a big beneficiary due to
the fact that there aren’t currently enough doctors, medical professionals and
healthcare providers for the size of our population. The hope is that soon it
will be possible to apply the knowledge and applications gleaned from big data
and AI to help people at a large scale, which would have a profoundly
beneficial effect on India.
Together the synergy of these new
technologies, from the physical world to the digital, from smartphones to
connectivity to big data and AI, will have an increasing impact on healthcare.
The key for India is ensuring that as many people as possible can access and
therefore benefit from these technological changes. If India is able to do so,
there is not only the opportunity for India to benefit from the positive
changes that technology is bringing to healthcare, there is the opportunity for
India to lead the global community in bringing about these changes.
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