Integrate & innovate to deliver the best of healthcare services: Rohit MA

Budget should announce new initiatives to encourage use of mobile technology in healthcare sector

Rohit M A, co-founder & MD, Cloudnine Group of Hospitals

Last Updated : Jan 16 2017 | 1:25 PM IST

Despite recording several gains in the health of healthcare sector, the scenario remains complex with a multitude of problems at present. Yet year after year the annual budget is much awaited across all the sectors and not just healthcare.

India is presently in a state of transition not just economically, demographically but more epidemiologically - in terms of health. While the reforms are targeted to meet the growing needs and expectations of the modern consumer and are bold and broad, but also affordable, achievable and, most importantly, fair. Despite efforts, there is a need to ensure healthier medicare and cheaper, faster access to medicines, through patient-focused hospital and funding agreements with the states and territories, as well as consumer-centred reforms of private health mental health and digital health.

It is the need of the hour that we focus our healthcare efforts with integration, innovation and modernisation to deliver the best of healthcare services for the economy.

Last year, the government expenditure saw an uptick in healthcare spending both as a share of GDP and in real terms during the first eight months of the current fiscal through March 31, according the Economic Survey. While the last decade has seen remarkable economic development particularly in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) unfortunately this progress is accompanied by growing disparities between the rich and the poor.

The government is implementing the financial inclusion and social security measures to bridge economic inequalities however the health sector too must ensure that health disparities between and among social and economic classes are also addressed adequately.

With these urgent and pressing concerns, here are some suggestions that need attention during the fiscal budget 2017.

Encourage technical talent from non-medical backgrounds

There is a need for initiatives under the Skill India Program for onboarding more technical talent from non-medical and technology backgrounds. In our increasingly digital world, it’s no wonder the technology takeover has reached the trenches of our hospitals and doctors’ offices. What was once mounds of paperwork has now been replaced with streamlined processes activated by the click of a mouse.

But it’s important to remember there is a team of professionals behind each digitized system to not only keep it running, but also constantly improving. Health information technology (HIT) is the booming field that is responsible for these behind-the-scenes systems that make our medical visits that much easier. There is a need under the Skill India programme for inclusion of more talent from the non-medical and technology backgrounds in the healthcare sector for making the services. Overwhelmingly, executives say that their No. 1 concern is recruiting the quantity and quality of medical personnel at all levels—management, administration, doctors, nurses, and clinical assistants—to ramp up services to meet demand.

Need for EHR Standardisation and regulator boost

A set of standards always helps in leveraging the existing technologies and ensure continuity of evolving technical innovations and deliver cost effective solutions and sharing medical knowledge. There is a need to standardize EMRs not just for Security but most importantly Safety. Electronic medical records help healthcare organizations improve patient care, but lack of standardization could cause safety and security problems. While all the governments are pushing for EHRs, but no one is overseeing the security and privacy of the records. There is need for SOPs on the use of technology to aid both the above from a cost and reach perspective,

It is encouraging to note that budget allocations for the health sector have increased year on year from 2005, taking us from 0.9 percent to 1.3 percent of total GDP. However, India continues to fall short when compared to other members of the BRICS countries, who spend a far higher proportion of their GDP on health; ranging from 3.5 percent to 8.5 percent.

Insurance particularly now with cashless economy indication should look to cover more wellness opportunities such as childbirth, cosmetic surgeries, and fertility. At present, amidst all the efforts, mobile technology hold a promising future and it is important that with the current phase making digital payments, new initiatives should be announced of how to ultilise mobile technology in healthcare better. With more than one billion mobile users in the country, the mobile phones offer tremendous opportunities in efficient health service delivery.
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Rohit M A is the co-founder and managing director of Cloudnine Group of Hospitals