The fourth edition of the Health of India virtual E-Summit, series featuring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana held on September 24, 2021, saw the panel speakers make a strong pitch for universal healthcare as a fundamental right, and leveraging technology for better healthcare management in the country.

Making a candid remark that politicians perceive health as opening more hospitals, Dr. PV Ramesh , Public policy expert and former principal secretary, Ministry of Health, Government of Andhra Pradesh remarked that it is time that the political class came together to redefine universal access to healthcare. He said, ”All political parties across the spectrum should agree that health is a fundamental right of all citizens – access to quality, affordable, accessible care, should be a fundamental right, and this has to be enshrined in the Constitution.”

The Health of Andhra Pradesh-Telangana, virtual E-Summit was presented by NTT Data solutions and SAP, with Kruxd as Data Partner, convened by Health Analytics Asia, and hosted by DataLEADS.

Dr. GV Rao, Director, AIG Hospitals pointed out how the pandemic has compelled government and other organizations to prioritise health and other medical set up in the country. He mentioned, “COVID has taught us a few things. We renewed our focus on infection control. The way we looked at the hygiene- mask, PPE kits, sanitation- it not only controlled COVID. Flu rates have come down, tuberculosis rate has come down. This is all because of the preventive measures COVID has taught us. We all learnt how to resource manage ourselves.”

The discussion considered the post-pandemic scenario in the country. What could be the role of technology and innovations in terms of handling medical issues? What will be the role of data and technology in shaping the future beyond COVID? Talking about the Cowin app and the process of vaccination tracking using technology, Sanjeev Deshpande, MD and CEO, NTT DATA Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd added, “ We are able to create a national movement using social media and various other media. It brought everybody together be it doctors, nurses or common citizens. All this information was disseminated properly and instructions were given.”

Stressing on the fact that the capturing and tracking of COVID data have helped the system in handling the pandemic, Deshpande said , “If we are going to make all of these system more robust and permanent and integrate them all, and have a protocol by which certain information can be passed on to a specific portal which is on the cloud.”

The panelists clearly mentioned that if the data are made available to the right people at the right time, then severe outcomes of pandemic could be prevented.

Talking about the role of technology in the medicines, Radha Rangarajan, Chief Scientific Officer, HealthCube, said, “Technological evolution has a very huge impact on the area of medicine, specifically in early detection. And early detection means the cost of care, cost of dealing with morbidities and mortalities, all of these will come down. That’s the basis for cancer detection and any other chronic diseases. Primary health care in rural areas can be made highly effective by use of connected devices and technologies. That should become a major focus.”

The speakers were asked what would be their recommendations to improve preventive health set-up in India and specifically in the state of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

To this Dr. Ramesh replied, “ COVID really called attention to the need of a more comprehensive and integrated care, with preventive, promotive and curative services. The paraprofessionals have emerged as a quite important instrument in preventive care and also in the referral system. Those grassroot systems that exist but are enfeebled, they need to be empowered.” To this Dr. Rao added, “Collection of data translates to the preventive part. So if we have COVID type of portals opened up for diabetes, hypertensions, paediatrics. I think these can get us huge amounts of data and we can take some decisions from the government sites.”

Moreover, the panelists have also focussed on the fact that there is a need for an urban based health care system in India where government, private bodies and other independent bodies should work together to build a technology driven medical system.

Dr Ramesh added, ”Today, we are at that opportunity to apply technology for the transformation of health care. A platform that can be built that connects and virtually creates digital health records of every individual. This has the potential for continuum of care and reducing the cost of care and preventing repeated investigations.”

You can watch the Health of India – Andhra Pradesh/ Telangana Edition Summit here. The Health of India series of virtual E-Summits now moves to Uttar Pradesh.

Please follow our social media handles to keep track of the dates, speakers and the agenda for this edition.

The second part of the Summit involved a series of flash talks by some finest minds in the healthcare sector including Manish Ranjan, CEO and co-founder of Nano Health, Puneeth Raj, Co-founder and CTO of Rayd8 and Anu Acharrya, CEO of Mapmygenome.

You can watch the Health of India- Andhra Pradesh-Telangana Edition Summit here. Please follow our social media handles to keep track of the dates, speakers and the agenda for this edition.