Digital healthcare Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

The Digital Backbone of Modern Healthcare: India’s Health IT Transformation

Khushi Khandelwal — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 10:30:00 +0000

Mr. Sanjay Jain

In the latest episode of the InnoHealth Magazine podcast, host Dr. Soumya Singh sat down with Mr. Sanjay Jain, Founder and CEO of Akhil Systems Pvt. Ltd., to explore the evolving landscape of healthcare IT in India. With over three decades of experience in healthcare digitization, Mr. Jain offered rich insights into the journey of Akhil Systems, the digital transformation of hospitals, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

A Three-Decade-Long Journey

Founded in 1994, Akhil Systems emerged out of a vision to fill the glaring gaps in healthcare automation. Mr. Jain recalled joining the company as a software developer, eventually becoming its co-leader with Rekha Murthy, his business and life partner. Their commitment to improving healthcare delivery through technology has fueled the company’s success across India and in more than 10 countries globally.

The company’s first major milestone came in 1995 with Mulchand Hospital in North India. This was followed by key partnerships with hospitals like Yashoda and Teerath Ram. An international breakthrough came in 2001 with an implementation project in Saudi Arabia—an experience that exposed Akhil Systems to sophisticated insurance and electronic medical record (EMR) requirements, far ahead of India’s at the time.

Turning Points in Health IT

A critical turning point arrived in 2004 with an ambitious project for STS Apollo Hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh (now Evercare). The goal was to build a paperless hospital on par with European standards. Mr. Jain proudly shared that for the last 20 years, patients at that facility haven’t carried a single paper prescription—proof of the system’s enduring success.

Challenges of EMR Adoption

Despite technological advancements, EMR adoption remains inconsistent in India. Mr. Jain emphasized that the barrier is rarely technological—it’s often behavioral. Even when hospitals are equipped with capable software, implementation falters due to inadequate planning, insufficient training, and resistance to change among medical staff. He stressed the importance of top-down commitment and continuous support to ensure successful adoption.

“One of the biggest lessons,” Mr. Jain said, “is that mindset matters more than the system. The same EMR works wonders in one hospital and is barely used in another.”

Key Features for Successful Implementation

Akhil Systems developed unique solutions like single-window billing and multilingual pharmacy packaging to streamline patient experiences. These innovations, supported by user-friendly apps and doctor-focused tools, highlight the importance of customizing IT systems to suit local workflows and user needs.

Mr. Jain offered practical advice to hospitals considering a Health Information System (HIS) purchase:

Start with a clear needs assessment
Involve consultants or expert teams
Focus on patient-centric design
Ensure interoperability and clinical documentation standards
Plan for seamless scalability and integration

Data Security: A Growing Concern

With increasing digitization, cybersecurity has become a critical issue. Mr. Jain admitted that this area has often been neglected but is now gaining attention following recent ransomware attacks. He stressed the importance of data encryption, secure communication protocols, regular backups, and robust firewall protections—whether data is stored on-premise or in the cloud.

“Security should be baked into the infrastructure and application from the start,” he warned, highlighting the role of standards like HIPAA, GDPR, and India’s upcoming DPDP Act.

The Future: AI, IoT, and Digital Ecosystems

Looking ahead, Mr. Jain is optimistic. He believes the next five years will be transformative for Indian healthcare, driven by:

Wider EMR adoption under national initiatives like ABDM
Remote patient monitoring using IoT and wearable devices
AI-powered diagnostics that assist clinicians with early detection
Mobile-first platforms that offer patients real-time access to their data

His company is preparing for this future with “Agastam,” a new cloud-native, microservices-based platform aimed at overcoming traditional EMR adoption challenges.

Final Thoughts

Mr. Jain’s journey is a testament to how passion, persistence, and purpose can drive meaningful change. From a developer to a leader in digital healthcare, his story mirrors India’s own transition from paper-based systems to intelligent, connected healthcare networks.

As he aptly summarized: “Digital transformation in healthcare is no longer optional. It is a necessity—and the time to act is now.”

Authors Biography

Sanjay Jain, Managing Director of Akhil Systems Pvt. Ltd., boasts three decades in healthcare IT. He transformed Akhil systems into a top global provider, implementing HIS in over 450 hospitals and earning multiple industry awards.

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Healthcare and Innovation: Designing Seamless User Experiences in a Digital Era

Khushi Khandelwal — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 10:30:00 +0000

InnoHEALTH magazine digital team

In the rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare, the integration of innovative technologies will revolutionize the way patients and providers interact. Just as interfaces play a crucial role in digital design, they are equally vital in the healthcare sector, where the quality of interfaces can directly impact patient outcomes. Understanding these interfaces—whether in physical devices, digital platforms, or service processes—is key to designing effective healthcare solutions.

Understanding Healthcare Interfaces

At its core, an interface is a medium that facilitates interaction between two entities. In healthcare, this could be the interface between a patient and a medical device, a healthcare provider and a digital health record, or a user and a telemedicine platform. The analogy of quenching thirst by drinking water—whether directly from a lake, through a glass, or a bottle—illustrates how different interfaces achieve the same outcome but require distinct approaches.

In healthcare, the outcome might be the successful administration of treatment, but the interfaces used to achieve this could vary widely. For instance, a patient might interact with a wearable device that monitors their vitals, use a mobile app to track their medication schedule, or consult with a physician via a telehealth service. Each of these interfaces must be designed with the user’s needs in mind, ensuring that the process is seamless and effective.

The Evolution of Healthcare Technology

The healthcare industry has seen tremendous advancements over the years, much like the evolution of tools such as the wheel and brakes. Early healthcare interfaces were rudimentary, often involving simple tools or manual processes. However, with the advent of digital technology, these interfaces have evolved significantly. Modern healthcare now leverages advanced interfaces such as AI-powered diagnostic tools, robotic surgery, and personalized medicine platforms, all designed to enhance patient care and improve outcomes.

These advancements underscore the importance of continually adapting and improving healthcare interfaces. Just as the invention of the wheel and brakes added control and efficiency to transportation, innovative healthcare interfaces add precision, accessibility, and personalization to patient care.

Designing Digital Healthcare Interfaces

When transitioning to digital healthcare interfaces, the principles of user interface (UI) design become critically important. A well-designed healthcare interface can make the difference between a user-friendly experience and one that is frustrating or even harmful. For instance, the placement of critical elements like emergency contact buttons, health data, and appointment scheduling options must be intuitive and easily accessible.

Healthcare interfaces often incorporate visual cues, such as icons and color coding, to guide users through complex processes. The placement of these elements—whether on a mobile app, a website, or a medical device’s display—needs to align with user behavior and psychological tendencies. Designers must ensure that these interfaces are not only functional but also empathetic to the needs of the user, whether they are a patient, a caregiver, or a healthcare professional.

The Role of the Healthcare Designer

Designers in the healthcare sector carry a significant responsibility. They must understand the unique challenges and needs of their users, who might be dealing with stressful situations, limited technical skills, or physical impairments. Creativity, critical thinking, and empathy are essential qualities for healthcare designers as they develop interfaces that are both accessible and effective.

Collaboration is also key in healthcare design. Working closely with healthcare professionals, patients, and other stakeholders helps designers gain insights and feedback that are crucial for creating interfaces that truly meet the needs of users. Continuous learning and adaptation are necessary to stay ahead of technological advancements and evolving user expectations.

Feedback and Continuous Improvement

In healthcare, the stakes are high, and there is little room for error. Continuous feedback and improvement are vital to ensure that healthcare interfaces remain effective and user-friendly. Just as in UI design, where feedback loops are used to refine and enhance user experiences, healthcare design must incorporate regular feedback from users to identify areas for improvement and implement necessary changes.

The healthcare industry is at the forefront of innovation, with interfaces playing a pivotal role in the delivery of care. Whether it’s through physical devices, digital platforms, or service processes, understanding and designing effective healthcare interfaces is essential to improving patient outcomes and enhancing the overall healthcare experience.

By appreciating the evolution of healthcare technology, leveraging creativity in design, and embracing collaboration, designers can create intuitive and engaging healthcare interfaces that empower users and ultimately contribute to better health outcomes. This journey from understanding simple analogies to mastering complex healthcare interfaces highlights the importance of innovation in shaping the future of healthcare.

Composed by:

InnoHEALTH magazine digital team

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Latest Technologies in healthcare

InnoHEALTH magazine digital team — Wed, 04 May 2022 03:42:32 +0000

My discussions here with some tech oriented doctors gave me the introspection that the field of medicine, healthcare and digital technology is going at a pace (now especially after over 2 years as there is a lull in the hospital with reduced number of emergencies associated with covid cases). While the hospitals are busy as usual, that urgent rush and emergencies have reduced, it seems, by almost 70% as compared to a situation just 6 months ago. Notwithstanding the above good situation, the impact of digital technology in the healthcare field is increasing at a fast pace. Today one can see a clear communication channel being established electronically between patients, hospitals, CV virtual consultation, pharmacies and health care insurance companies. One notices a speed in the interconnected ecosystem, thanks to the digital technology which is making its presence felt in the healthcare sector. Most countries in the western world and some in Asia are adapting advanced technologies in the healthcare sector. India is also doing its best to continue its tempo in digital healthcare. Some of the technological advances are briefly discussed in this article.

Today if any patient is visiting a hospital, they only need to give his health card at the reception of a hospital. He can already schedule an appointment with a doctor via his mobile app. Once the data is recorded, then the hospital digitally transfers the information and data of the patient on a real time basis to its billing section, doctor schedule section, and nearest pharmacy, the insurance company for billing and the aftercare department. All these happen at the time of entry of the patient’s data. Thereafter the patient is handed over a descriptive sheet with information regarding which doctor to visit, location in the hospital. During this time the consultation fee and other charges are already deducted, pharmacy payment is already done. So the walk-in patient after consulting the doctor goes straight to the designated pharmacy, picks up medicines and goes home.

This amount of development is done by digital technology in the healthcare sector currently. Many healthcare organizations are quick to adopt this cost effective digital technology not only for various medical devices, operation room equipment but also for billing, record keeping, accounting and communication to related stakeholders. The pharmacist informed me that in the use of electronic healthcare billing and records, she feels that a laptop to a doctor is as common as a stethoscope.

In the above process today, too much patient data is being created by the hospitals. One needs technology to improve data collection, segregation and compiling for ease of digital communication between doctors, patients, insurance and pharmacy and to ensure that data remains secure at all times.

So the latest technologies that can find use in the healthcare sector to manage patients’ electronic data being generated at speed. The answer is blockchain technology, Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and cloud technology.

So the latest technologies that can find use in the healthcare sector to manage patients’ electronic data being generated at speed. The answer is blockchain technology, Artificial intelligence (AI) tools and cloud technology. These technologies will certainly help improve work flows, streamline procedures, automate tasks and help open up new ecosystems involving hospitals, patients, insurance companies and pharmacies, by way of integrating all such related activities along with updating health records all at one go. Incorporation of the above technologies will improve the patient care and better management can be done on a timely basis.

Such a system will enable the hospitals and pharmacies dispensing medicines to automate most of their process online and in real time and enabling regular feedback to improve services and be cost effective at all stages.

Importance of patient’s health records:

Information integration at the hospital level, standardise and store patient information in a secure location. For starters, such a system will provide flexibility. Flexibility can be achieved by using telemedicine technology. Patients and doctors can seamlessly communicate. In addition, wearable devices will also provide data for doctors with better ways to evaluate the patient’s conditions and come up with more options to evaluate symptoms and take timely actions.

How will artificial intelligence assist the healthcare sector?

A stage will come when too much of patient data generation by various hospitals at various locations can become a landmine. AI enabled tools can shift through large and complex data generated from devices, hospital records, images, blood reports, etc to find a trend of patients undergoing treatment, come up with cost effective options, procedures and take timely clinical decisions to improve quality of experience provided to patients. Here comes the benefits of the blockchain technology which provides ledgers of unchanged data and thus secure the data provided to the patients and the consulting doctor.

A hybrid cloud environment will additionally offer various security features that can assist the sector with various report generation for regulatory agencies, State agencies, government agencies and procedure efficiencies.

Cloud technology works as an aid of the healthcare sector. When so much of technology is intertwined between patients, doctors and hospitals, a cloud environment most likely offers hospitals a chance to customize applications as per their specific reporting methods. Such records can help hospitals accounts departments to calculate costs, operational and financial efficiencies. A hybrid cloud environment will additionally offer various security features that can assist the sector with various report generation for regulatory agencies, State agencies, government agencies and procedure efficiencies.

There will be a five fold increase noticed in doctors appointments virtually and consultations. A great time saver. Lot of convenience will be provided to consult preferred doctors and healthcare workers and ambulance services. All such activities are enabled via laptop or mobile app. Overall, the digital health technology will make data availability easy, lower costs and will provide the doctors focus on the best line of treatment.

The conveniences are immense in adopting these new technologies for the healthcare sector. By this way, doctors can diagnose diseases with the help of medical imaging capabilities and improve their access and digital infrastructure. Basically a win win situation for the health care provider and the receiver.

Composed by: “Mr. Nanjundaiya Ramesh Kumar, is an international banker turned government Advisor, Professor and Global Ambassador with a deep interest in banking, communication, academics, technology integration in biomedical sciences and consulting. His forte is franchise promotion and exploring bilateral trade and investment avenues.”

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Interview with 1mg

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 27 May 2020 11:03:28 +0000

The responses have been given by Ankur Gigras, VP, E-commerce of 1mg

What are the objectives and your vision to start this organization?

1mg was launched in 2015 with a vision to make healthcare accessible, understandable and affordable. In the last five years, we’ve fundamentally disrupted healthcare in India and have emerged as clear leaders of the fast evolving digital health ecosystem.

Here is a look at what we have achieved so far:

~35% share of category amongst medical apps; 350m monthly page views on 1mg platform
Integrated Healthcare Platform: “Wiki” for healthcare information & India’s largest ePharmacy, eDiagnostics and eConsultation lines of business
Strong supply chain across India and a fast growing profitable B2B business line [Pharma distribution & Phlebotomist network]
Strong ecosystem partnerships with unique integrations with Insurance, Hospitals & Pharmacos to deploy novel models of healthcare delivery to patients across India

Patient centricity forms the core of our values. In the times that we are currently in, a digital healthcare platform is incomplete without online consults or telemedicine. We believe in offering our users a complete treatment cycle: from online consultations to ePharmacy and Lab tests.

What do you think needs to change in the health sector?

In healthcare, the information around our medicines and lab tests is either unavailable or incomprehensible to us, and that is the biggest change the sector needed to go through. Hence, with an aim to democratise healthcare, we decided to create a platform that stood for transparent, authentic and accessible information for all.

Unavailability of doctors due to a low patient to doctor ratio is another issue faced by the healthcare sector, especially in rural areas. With our video, audio and chat consultations, we hope to reduce that gap.

What tools and resources do you propose to bring these shifts in healthcare delivery?

In addition to the transaction & information services, we have built and launched many popular digital health tools such as medicine reminders, digital health locker, emergency profile etc. We also work on several unique models for patient support programs, digital health education programs, insurance solutions etc;

eConsults or telemedicine is another tool that we believe can bring about this shift. With most people practicing social distancing and minimizing contact, online doctor consultations, as per the guidelines issued by the Government of India, seem to be the safest option of seeking expert medical opinion and diagnosis.

Can you share about your business model?

1mg operates on a marketplace model where we have tie ups with licensed pharmacies, accredited diagnostic labs and with registered doctors/medical professionals. 1mg is an information technology platform on a digital and electronic network and acts as a facilitator between a buyer and a seller. The business model of 1mg is tied to the online transactions completed by consumers for Pharmacy and Diagnostics. The partners pay a small commission to us for bringing them orders and as volumes drive up, so will the profitability. As consumer usage increases, we would try and also introduce other monetization models through advertising. However, we are going to keep the offering free for consumers. [ lil’ bit on how econsults operates]

As mentioned earlier, patient centricity has always been our focus. 1mg believes in taking care of the needs of the patients, bringing about transparency and making healthcare accessible to all. We started out as a content platform for all health and medicine related information and later on went on to become an ecommerce platform.

What is the key strategy you adopted for acquisition?

1mg is a leader in the industry, with a ~35% share of category amongst all medical apps in India. So far, we have received over 350m monthly page views on our digital platform. Our app downloads have crossed 33 million till date.

It was possible for us to acquire such a huge user base only after we built enough trust among the people with the authentic information we provided. A major chunk of our customers are those users who came to our platform to consume health content.

What are the factors that influence market innovation and its impact on your organization?

To put it simply, the needs of the customers impact market innovation. For example, in the current times as the world is battling COVID-19, there is an urgent need for authentic and updated information around the same. So, we took it upon us to keep people informed. We experimented with different forms of content like ebooks, mailers, app notifications, website landing pages and more to help people consume as much authentic and medically accurate information as possible.

What are your strategies to deal with your competitor and what makes you different from others?

Being an integrated healthcare platform, 1mg enjoys leadership position and is driving the digital healthcare innovation in the country. Today, 1mg has become the most preferred integrated healthcare app for consumers/patients, and we clearly stand-out in the competition in terms of

Relevance and speed of search results for users
Quality of medical data/content available on our platforms, which is kept up-to-date at all times
Predictive algorithms and machine learning

We have great respect for our competitors but our qualities and values set us apart from the pack:

Clarity of vision – Since day one, 1mg has believed in integrated healthcare as the only model of healthcare that works for a consumer. We believed in it even before it was fashionable and for the last 5 years, we have worked very hard to make it happen. Our thought process, our innovation is naturally ahead of time.
Superlative team – We have one of the best teams in the Indian internet space, with leaders who have built and led large consumer businesses or healthcare divisions. We have also had the good fortune of having worked (or known) each other for a really long period of time. As a result, our team has a very high degree of trust and works in a very agile and collaborative fashion to achieve quick results.
Clarity in values – Since the very beginning, we have been clear about the values we want to uphold at 1mg:
- Our value of “done is better than perfect” enables us to rapidly innovate and test real products out in the market
- Our value of “Be CEO” empower individuals to take charge and do what’s right without an organizational bureaucracy holding them back
- Our value of “accountability with empathy” ensures meritocracy
- And our value of “team before individual” enshrines collaboration

We strongly believe that this is our winning formula.

With respect to telemedicines, we are one of the firsts to introduce audio and video consults, as well as COVID-19 specific consults.

What were the challenges you faced in initial days and how are they different today’s scenario, especially during this pandemic and what is your role in that?

Access to healthcare has been a challenge even before the pandemic, and health tech companies have tried everything to knit the gap existing in the healthcare system, be it telemedicine, online doctor consultation, mobile hospitals, etc. But, with the demand surging due to Covid-19 across different parts of the country, health tech companies are witnessing a new behavioural shift in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, which is here to stay.

Do you see any major growth opportunity in the post COVID-19 world?

Doctors have now started recognising the need for technology to engage better with their patient base. Hospitals too have become receptive of the change, as most of them are seeing a 40%-50% reduction in footfall. Suddenly they have started to feel the pain that they are not connected with the patient when they are at home. Onboarding doctors on telemedicine platforms has been a major challenge in the sector. Realising which, existing telemedicine companies have even adapted to models like collaborating with hospitals, or local pharmacy chains.

In the post-COVID-19 world, we believe that consumer behaviour would shift towards teleconsultations. The consumer’s fundamental pain point has never been about saving money on healthcare or ignoring it, it’s always about access. Going to a doctor’s clinic, waiting for two hours, and having to leave work early is often seen as an inconvenience. But with telemedicine they can consult the doctor anywhere without having to go through the hassle of visiting a clinic.

Further, the involvement of corporates and insurance companies in digital healthcare is also expected to go up.*

Share a bit more about the culture and values of your company? What is important to you and why?

Our value of “done is better than perfect” enables us to rapidly innovate and test real products out in the market.
Our value of “Be CEO” empowers individuals to take charge and do what’s right without an organizational bureaucracy holding them back.
Our value of “accountability with empathy” ensures meritocracy.
And our value of “team before individual” enshrines collaboration

We strongly believe that this is our winning formula.

What are your Future plans and any message for our readers?

Since the inception of 1mg we have always believed that technology and data will fundamentally change healthcare delivery. 1mg has already changed the healthcare landscape by making consumer centric integrated healthcare real. Over the years we have invested significantly in product and supply chain and most of the investments will continue or get accelerated. Some areas which will see disproportionate investment will be the ones below:

AI and Machine Learning – Artificial Intelligence will fundamentally change healthcare and will make it personalized, predictive and preventive. With billions of healthcare data points, 1mg is already working on cutting edge AI models and we will continue to accelerate work in that direction. Our most recent peer review journal publication on teleconsultation is proof of our deep capabilities.
New healthcare models – It’s clear that at 1mg’s scale, we now have the ability to enable new healthcare models for the ecosystem. These models, such as smart hospitals, outpatient insurance etc. will be the models of the future and will make healthcare accessible and affordable. Accessibility and affordability are 2 core pillars of 1mg’s vision.
Integrated Care plans – Using the 1mg platform, our goal is to enable truly integrated outpatient care in the country. Such a plan will provide a patient with continuity of care both online and offline and across all their healthcare service needs.

We strongly believe that product and technology are our core strengths at 1mg and ones that have and will continue to help us deliver superlative value to a healthcare consumer.

Interviewed by Disha Soni & Dr Prateek Malhotra

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Digital Healthcare

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 09:02:41 +0000

The population curve is swinging upwards and it highlights the urgency for easy and affordable healthcare for all. Age and disease demographics are changing rapidly with an increasing number of senior citizens and the rise in chronic disease incidence rates. When everything from a new car to table tennis balls to designer dresses is available online, why shouldn’t healthcare? A rhetorical question, but one that if answered, would obviously show us that the digital healthcare needs to be prioritized for us to push the growth of the medical industry as well as the quality of health and healthcare of our nation as a whole. The telemedicine boom has already taken off with remote monitors, wearable devices and data processors to augment the conventionally practisced basic medicine. These data processors allow a variety of different applications from the data collected to be efficiently examined, such as patient medical records, surveys, statistics, and complaint registers, etc. This may tangentially cause the discovery of more efficient methods of accurate diagnosis and improve the planning and allocation of medical resources for the patient and change our definition of primary care. Setting up appointments and accessing patient records no longer has to be a hassle.

What is Digital Health?

Put simply, the digitalization of healthcare means the integration of technology and robotics into the healthcare field. This is a platform for industrial growth as well as a revolution in the way we treat healthcare.

Tracking Health

Patient-friendly diagnostic and tracking devices allow patients to monitor their health parameters, like blood sugar levels, blood pressure, etc., much more efficiently. This enables them to be more in charge of their own well-being. This is not to say that technology is a replacement of the doctor, but rather an assistant for better medical decisions. The balance between doctor and patient can be less one-sided with the assistance of even their simplistic smartphone. Doctors will no longer have to utilize the Occam’s razor fallacy when diagnosing a patient, which says that if a patient has certain symptoms, the simplest condition fulfilling the symptoms must be the explanation. This has led to many misdiagnoses but with the help of effective and accurate digital analysis of the patient, the diagnosis can be done accurately. As improvements have been made in the field of diagnostic technology, these misdiagnoses have reduced by a large number, which clearly highlights the benefit of a system which can seamlessly integrate previous patient records with current monitored symptoms to assist the doctors in accurately analyzing and diagnosing a condition making it precise and personalized to improve therapy and also and patient adherence.

Technology

There are a plethora of interesting technological advancements that have been made in modern day medicine which can intrigue even the most skeptical person. As a by-product of these advances, point of care devices has been created for patients. Wearable skin sensors to analyze the electrolytes and biofluids that detect diabetes and cystic fibrosis, biosensors for diabetic patients which show their blood sugar straight onto their smartphone screen, relieving them of the pain of having to prick their fingers, conductive gels and patches which look like fashion accessories but are actually sophisticated technology, are just a few devices which have been created as advances, have been made to facilitate ease of healthcare. Mechanoacoustic skin sensors are being applied to quantitatively measure the rehabilitation in patients recovering from a stroke. Pacemakers were always important in cardiology, but their digitalization and remote monitoring have led them to last longer and respond more acutely to the patient’s needs. There are also implants that can electrically stimulate cardiac or brain tissues to treat conditions like irregular heartbeat, motor disorders, and cognitive impairments. The advantages for wearable devices are many, to monitor heart rates and training zones, analyzing exact calorie intake every day to better plan meals and snacks and tracking sleep. The aforementioned skin sensors that analyze biofluids are showing promising results in assessing stress levels as well. The ability to conduct microsurgery is also something requiring sophisticated hardware technologies and new imaging tools, but the outcome of the surgeries is far more accurate than anything that can be done by human hand.

Collaborative Decision Making

Collaborations between experts in computers, behavioral sciences, epidemiology medicine, engineering, and clinical research are necessary to make advances in the field. Other than devices, there are also various applicative cloud-based or internet technologies, which, and genome focused R&D, as well as alternative medical consultation making the benefits clear to the entire healthcare industry. Digital healthcare facilities can allow the growth of specialized knowledge among the medical community through advanced networks, technology-enabled peer-to-peer reviews, and emergency medical consultations during an emergency due to epidemics with mobile device laboratory capabilities and digital clinical trials.

Mobile Health

Mobile health is a significant part of the digital revolution and the apps can educate individuals and help them manage chronic diseases. Often when the information spreading via doctor-patient meetings falls short, the use of these mobile apps can allow the patients to interact directly with the doctors without any urgent scheduling required. This is not only cost efficient but convenient to the doctor as well as the patient. Mobile health also assists in disease surveillance, keeping track of outbreaks, and aids in supporting treatment.

Digital Medicine

But when it comes to the actual research happening, there are many fields in which creative growth is occurring, such as the research for targeted deliverance systems which can also reach the difficult to access internal organs and can even cross the blood brain barrier! There is research being done for automated healthcare for those patients who suffer from cognition and memory problems for long-term care. This field of research is being highly noticed with every new company start-up, and even the old pharmaceutical giants are noticing the developments in digital medicine.

The internet is the biggest platform to bring awareness to digitalization in the field of medicine. There are many popular websites on which there is a large penetration of awareness, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and even YouTube with LinkedIn leading in presence of the key players, maybe not so much inactivity and utility. Everyone from individuals to big companies is pro-digital health, as it is more efficient, cost friendly, and provides benefits for everyone. North America is the leader in digital progress and is dominating the market because of the large number of players and increasing partnership between them. Government schemes, as well as quick improvements in the IT scene, allow large growth of this industry. As with any industry, it will eventually spread globally, uniting the world under a digital health banner.

Also Read:
Medical IoT: Future Of Connected Health
Cyber4Healthcare: An Issue Of Today & Tomorrow
Social Media In Healthcare
DISHA – Need Of The Hour

Growth

As a model, however, this industry has not taken off to imaginable heights and there is a large scope for growth. Even though there is potential, the issue arises when there is no integration of the private and government sectors. This, however, is also due to high capital expenditure to develop the infrastructure in moderate economies and therefore cloud-based systems can be a possible solution. As more and more people use smartphones, the increase in demand for mobile apps provides an ample room for the digital technology bomb to light its fuse. When it is easy to bring about awareness, the actions taken due to that awareness will lead to a positive outcome. The rural populations access to healthcare services increases and offer them a large scope of point of care diagnostics, teleconsultation, and e-prescription facilities. This expansion in rural areas can lead to the increased pace of urbanization and therefore increase progress in any third world country. As the integration of these technologies happens with the standard healthcare system, the efficiency will increase, and this can help control the lack of healthcare in the ever-growing population, and make healthcare cheaper and more easily available. Eventually, given the right conditions, perhaps healthcare will be seen as a basic human right due to the strides in technology.

After understanding these benefits, it is irrefutable that digital healthcare can help bridge the gap between resource management and human labor in the medical field and is, therefore, a major key to our future. The world needs digital health, for a better and healthier tomorrow. There is a large scope for global market growth as well as India, and we must take initiative to ensure that the digital healthcare revolution becomes practicable. Accelerating the advancement of digital medicine will soon make it a way of life and we will then just call it medicine, not just a part of it.

About the Author

Dr. Deepti Saini is a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from AIIMS. After a decade of academic research and another half-decade spent in corporate research, she has ventured into entrepreneurship under the banner of “Protein Design” based in Bengaluru.

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Cyber4Healthcare: An Issue of Today & Tomorrow

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 09:40:44 +0000

It is a world of digital transformation with a large number of buzz words such as Innovation, Blockchain, AI, etc., spoken around within people on large. This is digital revolution where things change very rapidly with newer concepts, issues, challenges and solutions. One such major issue of digital world is Cybersecurity which relates to Ransomware, bitcoin, etc. Taking the cue, in the current issue of the magazine we intent to explore the trends, and challenges of Cybersecurity and address its need in the healthcare sector.

In a recent healthcare conference, the people were unaware when I spoke about how on October 21, 2013, the former US Vice President Dick Cheney’s doctors disabled his pacemaker’s wireless capabilities to thwart possible assassination attempts. To this, everyone had an issue on accountability. It remains unanswered that who would be liable, the doctor, hospital, company which provided pacemaker or the insurance company. Amidst all this, nobody was concerned about the patient as none present there questioned it. Maybe we are awaiting a major catastrophe to happen to put our minds to work. It is our endeavor to equip the healthcare community to this aspect of digital health.

Cybersecurity is a major concern for patient safety and healthcare infrastructure. The health records, data, hospital information system and individual medical devices are all targets. The vulnerability is in technology and lack of awareness of staff. There are many examples to quote wherein hospitals have become the victim of attacks. A recent audit of a corporate hospital in Delhi by our team revealed that 80% of equipment is vulnerable to cyber attack, thus, risking the patients. Healthcare providers are not sensitized to issue as required hence this magazine is dedicated to Cybersecurity. We have named it Cyber4Healthcare and even launched a training program in the healthcare domain to update knowledge of this extremely important topic. There is an immediate necessity that we invest in staff and equipment to make our systems robust enough to protect them from cyber-attacks.

We at InnovatioCuris always strive to sensitize the healthcare providers with new technologies and our next issue would focus on IoMT or connected healthcare which is overtaking the segment rapidly. However, we should always keep in mind that we are master of technologies and not the other way around. Can humane touch be replaced by technology? The trend nowadays is that we are leaving human ingenuity behind and are being heavily dependent on technology. There is a need to understand the benefits and challenges of newer devices, technology, and thinking. Let us consider how we can balance traditional to modern approach in today’s world and get the best of both worlds. Let our readers share their experiences by writing for the magazine to benefit all.

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Innovative approach to a healthy life

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 09 Feb 2018 07:42:23 +0000

A two-day national level event InnoHEALTH 2017 was hosted in the capital with international participants. Vigyan Arya reports about the two-day high profile event attended by leading industry representatives from India and abroad.

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A voice to raise concern about the increasing cost of health and medical facilities was given a platform at the two-day InnoHEALTH 2017 that was hosted on September 18th and 19th in the capital. In the second year of its running, the event was co-hosted by InnovatioCuris and Indiattitude that extended a stage for innovations in the field of health and medicine.

Addressing the large gathering of doctors and high-profile professionals from the industry, Dr V.K. Singh, the visionary behind this event conveyed that the prime objective of this mega event is to contribute towards bringing down the healthcare delivery cost yet maintaining the quality.

InnoHEALTH 2017 helped in doing so by creating deliberations among policy makers, industry and academia on topics linked with Innovations in Hospitals, diagnostics, medical devices, pharma, biotech, digital healthcare and new delivery models.

The conference saw an attendance of around 250 Delegates with an overwhelming response of 170 on the very first day including 50 elite speakers from all over the world.

H.E. Riho Kruuv, Estonian Ambassador to India, DG Armed Forces Medical Services and Prof. Anil Gupta known for his work of innovations were some of the key speakers. The attendance saw presence from renowned healthcare personalities such as Dr. Arvind Lal of Lal Pathlabs, Dr. Ravi Gaur CEO Oncquest Labs, Dr. Padam Khanna – NHSRC, Mr. Partha Dey – IBM India, Mr. R Rengarajan Iyengar from HCL Healthcare.

On the first day of the power-packed two-day event, the conference hosted a B2B meeting to connect the Indian stakeholders with a visiting European Union delegation pertaining to innovative health sector companies. The companies were selected through a competitive program with a focus on cost-effective innovations for the Indian market.

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With the objective of making it an international platform for the industry professionals with similar aims and goals, the conference had very high-profile brands, corporate and government organizations shouldering their support. Conference also hosted young innovators award.

The big boost in the confidence and capabilities of the conference was extended by the Embassy of Estonia, as the country partner. Other leading partners included, NHSRC representatives of MoHFW, Government of India, Public Health Foundation of India; CAHO as the association of accredited hospitals of India and AHPI that represents more than 10,000 private healthcare providers. IAMI brought in the clinicians involved in healthcare analytics while ScanBalt brings the outreach to more than 22,000 professionals in 11 European countries.

There were many more that contributed feathers to the hat to make InnoHEALTH 2017 a very successful event in terms of the perceived outcome.

The two-day event saw some very insightful discussions on, Innovations for Hospitals; Diagnostics of Tomorrow; Innovations for Affordable Healthcare – A Medical Device Perspective and Public Health and Biotech, on the first day of the conference.

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The second day started off with a very informative keynote address by Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan of IIM Indore. He is a Director and Professor of Strategic Management at the Indian Institute of Management in Indore.

It was followed by discussions on Healthcare Beyond Hospitals; Innovations in the Pharma Sector; Digital Health: Giving birth to new delivery models and fostering innovations, finally followed by Challenges and Redefining Healthcare Landscape.

The last two sessions of the day opened a very important chapter in the field of innovations in health sector. Indian and international companies were given a platform to make their pitch claiming the coveted Innovations titles. The finale was the dispensing of Young Innovations Awards.

Overwhelmed by the encouraging response this year, the organizers announced the dates for the next InnoHEALTH 2018, to take place on 5th – 6th October 2018, with a raised hope to come back next year keeping shared goals in healthcare with only, bigger, better and meatier roles for all stakeholders.

[vc_cta h2=””]His Excellency Riho Kruuv; Estonian Ambassador to India
I am very proud to be representative of Estonia as Country Partner for this conference on Innovations in Health Care because Estonia is a country that is all about innovations and fast adaptation of new technology. Estonia did not invent internet but we use it to the maximum especially in the health care society. In fact, in 26 years since independence, we have now become a digital society.“[/vc_cta][vc_cta h2=””]Dr V.K. Singh
Innovation is not very old. Despite that Public Health is the most curative neglected area as most doctors do not wish to go in that direction. Most prefer to work in the preventive medication that is more lucrative and appeals to most, even to the students, much before they even become qualified doctors.[/vc_cta]

Want to write for InnoHEALTH? send us your article at magazine@innovatiocuris.com

Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 4 (October to December 2017) – http://amzn.to/2B2UMLw
InnoHEALTH Volume 3 Issue 1 (January to March 2018) – https://goo.gl/fksdQx

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Press Release: InnoHEALTH 2017

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Sat, 16 Sep 2017 04:45:03 +0000

Press Release: InnoHEALTH Conference 2017, 18-19 September, New Delhi, www.innohealth.in
The two-day international conference “InnoHEALTH 2017” will take place in New Delhi, India on 18^th and 19^th September 2017 at ShangriLa’s Eros Hotel. It is an annual feature and is second in the series.
InnoHEALTH 2017 organizers InnovatioCuris and Indiattitude are working with a vision of bringing down the healthcare delivery cost yet maintaining the quality. InnoHEALTH 2017 is doing so by creating deliberations among policy makers, industry and academia on topics linked with Innovations in Hospitals, Diagnostics, Medical devices, Pharma, Biotech, Digital healthcare and New delivery models. The conference is also providing a platform for Indian innovators to pitch their innovations and compete for a Young Innovators Award.
The conference will see around 400 people in two days including 60 renowned speakers from all over the world. The CEO of NITI Aayog, Ambassadors of Foreign missions in India, DG Armed Forces Medical services and Prof Anil Gupta known for his work on innovations would attend and share their views. The conference is hosting a B2B meeting on 18^th September to connect Indian stakeholders with a visiting European Union Delegation pertaining to innovative health sector companies. The companies are selected through a competitive program with a focus on cost effective innovations for Indian market.
The conference is also joined by many partners such as Estonia as a country partner, NHSRC representing MoHFW, Government of India, Public Health Foundation of India, CAHO as the association of accredited hospitals of India, AHPI representing more than 10,000 private healthcare providers. IAMI bringing the clinicians involved in healthcare analytics, ScanBalt Forum bringing the outreach to more than 22,000 professionals in 11 European countries and many others.

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