How will Covid-19 reshape India’s healthcare sector?

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on healthcare sector across the world. In India, digital technologies have played a key role in pandemic response. Digital platforms like MyGov, Aarogya Setu and CoWIN have played a critical role in information dissemination, contact tracing and vaccination efforts. Communities have used social platforms to support each other, and healthcare providers have scaled up virtual services in order to meet the demand for diagnosis and care. In the last one year, the global pandemic has pushed healthcare providers to review traditional practices and rethink of a new work culture in line with the expanding digital world.

Digital healthcare has now become a new normal where patients do not need to visit the hospitals for consultation. A strong focus on Digital India Initiative, has helped public and private healthcare sector to come forward with new initiatives to increase accessibility, connectivity, affordability and personalized healthcare for patients. In a post-COVID world, the focus would be on building a digitally seamless care delivery model. With the help of technology and the growing acceptance of digital interactions, patients’ health could be monitored remotely with the help of smart infrastructure and digital tools.

With the shift to a digital healthcare system, virtual consultations, remote monitoring, e – ICU’s and much more enabled the healthcare professionals to be prepared and equipped to fight the pandemic as well as utilise their skills in the best possible ways. For instance, healthcare providers like Manipal Hospitals introduced an in-house app with a wide range of features that allows patients & their family members to pay their bills from any part of the world. Apart from that, several companies have also come up with manufacturing indigenous self-test kits that can yield accurate results with the help of AI to save time, cost and improve access.

Virtual care is now mainstream for data integration and has enabled doctors to monitor multiple patients simultaneously while prioritizing critical patients. Tele-ICU and Tele- consultation services provides effective remote access for patients helps doctors manage patient and make quick decisions. AI, Cloud database and IoT is yet another digital innovation that enables patients and their families to monitor their health. It has turned out to be much faster and more accurate to ensure smooth workflow.

Though there is a rapid decline in the COVID-19 cases, the digital shift will continue to pave way for the future of the healthcare sector and will allow doctors to explore digital options for providing treatment and care. While the pandemic has instigated a fear in the people where they prefer online healthcare options, it has also helped the healthcare system in covering geographies that are out of the natural footprints.

As we move forward, in the hope for a pandemic -free world, digitization will be the key to achieving universal health coverage and could pave the way for the Right to Healthcare for all Indians.

–Nandkishor Dhomne, CIO, Manipal Health Enterprises Pvt Ltd