Through this partnership, the two companies plan to digitise 1,000 clinics in 2021, to provide better patient outcomes for 10 lakh patients across India
AstraZeneca India has announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Docon Technologies, Bengaluru, for digitising 1,000 clinics across India. Under the partnership, Docon will equip the identified clinics with customised Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems enabling clinicians to access complete patient history. This will go a long way in helping the clinical community better treat chronic patients and manage long-term complications of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, a company statement said.
The rising risk of NCD-related deaths has necessitated the need for better treatment protocols to reduce mortality rates, and, hence, having a centralised repository of critical patient history becomes important. According to health ministry, one in four Indians has a risk of dying from an NCD before they reach the age of 70. The major NCDs in India are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. Physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, tobacco use and the harmful use of alcohol are the main behavioural risk factors for NCDs. They contribute to raised blood pressure (hypertension); raised blood sugar (diabetes); raised and abnormal blood lipids (dyslipidaemia); and obesity, it added.
It also said that in addition to the multiple government initiatives in the country, digitisation of small clinics with the support of EMR, teleconsultation and other additional facilities will provide the doctor and the patient a better opportunity to interact and ensure that there is constant monitoring of the patient and medication adherence.
Commenting on the initiative, Gagandeep Singh, Managing Director, AstraZeneca India, said, “As a part of AstraZeneca’s continued vision to tackle NCDs at the grass-root level, we are happy to partner with Docon to develop and provide a sustainable way to prevent, identify and manage NCDs across the country. The need for a centralised repository on patient information has been discussed at length but the implementation of this has not been a smooth journey. As a company that relies on the power of Science in the treatment and managing NCDs, we are committed to collaborate with relevant players in the ecosystem in advancing the best science and technology can offer in bettering patient outcomes.”
The statement also said that in order to ensure safety and privacy, the data of the patient will be fully encrypted and stored in a private cloud server to ensure the highest security, and only clinicians will have access to individual patient data. The programme is also fully compliant to telemedicine guidelines issued by NITI Aayog and Gazzette of India in March 2020.
Akash Valia, Business and Growth Head, Docon Technologies, said, “We are excited to work alongside AstraZeneca’s team to further the cause of digitalisation of doctor clinics and patient health record management. NCDs have to be closely monitored and having access to detailed patient history is important for the doctor to impart better treatment and improve patient outcome. Docon helps the doctor not only view patient history digitally but also consult and share the prescription directly on the patient’s smartphone. Technology is the key catalyst to reach every corner of India and improve healthcare in the country. At Docon, our vision is to be a platform for all healthcare industry stakeholders to connect easily with each other. We are happy AstraZeneca is taking key steps to improve patient outcome via digitalisation.”
Towards reaching the 1,000 clinics goal in 2021, on-ground identification and support have been placed in 30 cities. Till now, as a part of the pilot phase, around 200 clinics have been upgraded with many of them being in tier-I and -II towns. In addition to providing the clinicians with a three-day in-clinic training for learning and adoption, a dedicated helpline is also being established for the users to understand and resolve technical queries, it added.
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