The second edition of the Health of India virtual E-Summit, held on 13 August 2021, saw Dr. Roderico H Ofrin, WHO representative to India, along with the other members of the panel, calling the ongoing pandemic not just a challenge but also an opportunity.

Dr. Ofrin said, “This challenge is an opportunity. In all this health has never had this spotlight, priority or investment. Every head of state is talking about improving health, improving health services, and improving health of people. If there is cooperation across sectors for a response, there should be the same operations across sectors, for preparedness, for preparing health systems, for improving health workers, improving quality of healthcare services, for improving primary healthcare, making systems resilient. “

The second edition of the Health of India virtual summits – presented by YASH Technologies and SAP, convened by Health Analytics Asia, and hosted by DataLEADS— featuring Delhi saw an array of speakers share their ideas on the current fight against the pandemic, the road ahead and the importance of data, as well as strengthening primary healthcare in the country.

Dr K Srinath Reddy, President Public Health Foundation of India, emphasized on the use of technology. He said, “We do need a multiskilled, health force in order to make the system much more efficient, capable of delivering. Since we are also running against the clock, while we do invest in medical colleges, nursing colleges, and allied health professionals, preferably to strengthen district hospitals, also emerging as training centres. We need to use technology-enabled primary health workers, in both rural and urban primary healthcare.”

The pandemic, according to Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque, UNICEF Representative, India, has brought out the faultlines in the system, especially when it comes to gender inequity. She said, “ 45% of the people vaccinated are women. So we are seeing a gap even in the vaccination of women. Why? Is it linked to a myth, misconception or is it just that women are not getting time from their household work or is it a transportation issue? Why are women not going for vaccination?

It was also felt there is a rush to call the end of the pandemic, whereas the truth is, it is nowhere in sight, at the moment. Dr. Shahid Jameel, Director, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University said, “ Delta is the flavour of the day. But let us not forget that viruses will continue to mutate. Viruses will continue to change, if we give them the opportunity to change. All that goes back to behaviour. We worry about this variant or that variant, but we resist wearing a mask, which can prevent all variants.”

The discussion veered around the use of technology in fighting the pandemic, as well as building a robust health system. Mr M V R Kumar, Head- India Business Group, YASH Technologies said, “The technology is required more from the apps point of view, it should be available to the individual, the person, and data processing, prediction, and huge technology is required.” Along with technology, there was emphasis on data collection as well. Dr. Sujoy Kar, Chief Medical Information Officer and Vice President, Apollo Hospitals said, “We will now change the way we collect data. And it comes from the patients, in a decentralized fashion. We are more focused on patient reported outcomes. These are fundamental changes that are going to happen at the level of the individual, the level of clinician, the level of community, and the level of tech providers.”

Ms. Anjali Nayyar, Executive Vice President, Global Health Strategies said inequities stressed on collaboration as a key element in bringing the pandemic to an end. She said, “ I do think the world will recover. But it is not going to happen without collaboration. It is not going to happen without partnerships, it is not going to happen without sharing learnings. “

One of the main points of discussion was the use of artificial intelligence in public health. Dr. Kar said, “ Is AI going to take over from doctors and clinicians? The answer is absolutely no. But yes, people who use artificial intelligence, whatever form of machine learning and others, will replace people who do not use it. “. Dr Reddy sounded a note of warning saying that AI is dependent on algorithms that are context-dependent. He said, “Algorithms that are developed in a western population may not be contextually appropriate to our population. Therefore, you need our own datasets to develop our own algorithms, and test them on our population.”

The speakers also strongly batted for data being made publicly available. Dr.Jameel said, “ There is so much granular data available, with ICMR and Ministry of Health – despite representations from 800 scientists to share that data, that has not happened. The country is at a loss, the public health system is at a loss. Dr. Kar said, “Data without internet access is not going to make much of a difference. One of the very important things is to get to the last mile, and we need to ensure that what the broadband commission say, we need to take the internet to every possible corner of the country. “

Commenting on the India scenario, Dr. Ofrin said, “If there is any country that is well positioned for Universal Health Coverage., a resilient health system, it is India. The Ayushman Bharat, PM JAY, operationalized for health and wellness centre, ambitious goals but really intense work has been happening.”

To conclude, the speakers were asked to share one recommendation for the government as a roadmap. Dr. Reddy was of the opinion that primary health care-led universal health coverage is where we can clearly demonstrate its impactwhile Dr Jameel wanted data transparency, and data should be shared with all stakeholders. Ms. Nayyar was of the view that there should be collaboration between health sectors and other important relevant sectors.

You can watch the Health of India-Delhi Edition Summit here. The Health of India series of virtual E-Summits now moves to Karnataka. Please follow our social media handles to keep track of the dates, speakers and the agenda for this edition.