Connecting medical data can help people: Rahul

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said there was a huge amount of medical information such as diagnostics, X-rays and MRIs and connecting them can help cure a person by deciphering how others were treated.

Gandhi made the remarks at an interaction at the Royal Society of Medicine here.

"There is a huge amount of information that is available which is not connected. By connecting it, you will be able to to cure somebody by using data from other people's cure," he said.

Gandhi said India aspires for universal healthcare.

"Our record on HIV and Generic Medicine is exceptional. India has had many successes in healthcare. Universal healthcare is what we aspire to deliver."

He said a huge part of prevention is about information. "A large number of people don't have information on simple healthcare issues. Healthcare is not isolated from everything else," Gandhi said.

He said there was need to decentralise power for an effective local healthcare structure.

Answering a query, he said there was need of more psychiatrists in India "but the Indian system has support structures like yoga and meditation that play the role of psychiatrists".

--IANS

ps-aks/pgh/