Role Of Digital Technology In Healthcare

India has one of the largest healthcare sectors in the world catering to the needs of more than 1.3 billion people. Primary healthcare forms the backbone of India’s health system, complemented by secondary and tertiary levels. But, due to insufficient infrastructure, lack of doctors, higher out of pocket expenditure etc. healthcare services are out of reach of millions of Indians.

• To provide accessible, affordable and quality healthcare services to its citizens, there is a need to build an equitable, comprehensive and integrated model of health care services.
• Adoption of digital technology in healthcare has the potential to improve health service delivery as it can help in better diagnosis, management of health records, strengthen policy measures, improve research and widen the outreach of healthcare to the remote corners of India.

Digital Technologies used in Healthcare

• Electronic Medical Records: It involves storing information about an individual’s health, medical conditions, medications and important pas events, which can be shared with the health professionals for timely and quality decision making. It will ensure continuum of care for the patient from his birth till the old age.
• Use of e Sensors: Use of electronic sensors will improve monitoring of chronic diseases in the patients as there will be a continuous flow of data through the sensor, which can be analysed swiftly with the use of Artificial Intelligence or other such technologies.
• Telemedicine: It involves the use of Information and Communication Technologies such as Wifi, Mobile phones, computers etc. to improve healthcare outcomes by increasing access to health and medical services. It ensures that patients get access to quality and affordable health services without in person visits.
• 3-D Printing: 3D printing technology enables the manufacturing of affordable prosthetics implants, customized surgical models, medical aids and devices, revolutionizing the medical equipment industry. It enables customization and precision in surgical procedures.
• e-Pharmacy: With increased adoption of digital tools and penetration of e commerce in the country, online pharmacies are improving access to safer and affordable medicines, significantly eliminating the supply gaps in traditional pharmacy stores.
• Digital Training: Providing training to healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, Auxiliary Nurse Midwives through e learning platforms can help in reinforcing their professional skills.
• Also, providing them with relevant digital tools such as mobile phones, cloud storage, specific training modules, etc. will ensure empowerment of the whole community.

Advantages of using Digital Technology in Healthcare

• Technologies such as AI and Machine Learning, Blockchain, etc. makes clinical and diagnostics decision-making less error-prone, quicker, evidence-based, and free of bias.
• It will improve reach of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities beyond Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.
• It will ensure access to qualified healthcare professionals such as Doctors, Nurses, and Technicians etc. to a large population, hitherto uncovered by healthcare services.
• It will make healthcare service affordable for a sizeable population who face poverty every year due to high out of pocket expenditure.
• Early screening and treatment of non-communicable diseases will be possible with the help of digital techniques such as point of care diagnostics as these diseases contribute to more than 60% of total deaths in India.
• Improving the access to health and diagnostics history of the patient will raise the standards of service delivery through refinements in decision making process.
• Policymakers and researchers will get access to greater and well organized datasets, which will enable them to make informed decision making, advanced analytics and effective policies, suited to the needs of the patients.
• Access to a larger dataset will also allow geography and demography based monitoring of health.

Limitations

• The penetration of digital infrastructure is still low in India, especially in the Rural regions of the country. According to TRAI, only 30% of rural India is covered by a broadband connection.
• States such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, which fare low in the health indices, have only 21% broadband penetration.
• There are issues of reliability due to untrustworthy internet speeds and outages.
• Privacy of data is a major concern in the absence of a data protection policy.
• There is lack of digital literacy amongst the people, which is a major hinderance in accessing digital health services such as telemedicine.
• India does not have adequate number of healthcare professionals. Doctor to population ratio is low at 1:1511 against the WHO norm of 1:1000, whereas India is short of nearly 2 million nurses.