Pramod Kutty, CEO & Co Founder, Connect2MyDoctor explains the road ahead for virtual healthcare in India
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital adoption in India’s healthcare ecosystem much more than originally envisaged. It has made remote healthcare solutions go from a niche rarity to a preferred mode of care. Prior to the pandemic, majority of the patients believed in meeting the doctor in person but there has been a major surge in virtual care since then. While tele-health consultations had already taken root in India pre-pandemic, it had not gained enormous credibility. The pandemic, however, has proved to be a game changer in this regard.
A sizeable cross-section of the population has taken to virtual healthcare in a big way in the country, due to the widespread information on the advantages of telehealth. Remote healthcare solutions ensure physical distance and prevent the spread of infections among healthcare providers and patients. This is invaluable as practitioners need to stay safe during the period to enable patients to have access to healthcare. It is heartening to note that patients are now looking beyond regular doctor consultations to sharing reports, connecting devices, reviewing the reports, getting family members based in other locations into the call etc.
Mental health
The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems across all age groups in the country. Mental health had ballooned as a matter of grave concern in society due to multiple factors and the pandemic has only helped to quicken the pace of this malaise. In an encouraging move, the Union Budget has taken this into account by announcing the launch of 23 new tele mental health centres.
It is a fact that pandemic has taken a huge toll on people’s mental health. The new Union Budget proposal will get mental health specialists closer to the people who need this the most. In smaller towns and cities, symptoms are ignored or kept under wraps because of the social taboo of meeting a psychiatrist or psychologist. These tele mental health centres can help patients with continuity of care, especially for those who have had the need to travel long distances to meet doctors in cities or drop off due to costs or being away from work etc. These centres can also be used for disseminating care information for a larger audience.
Bridging urban-rural healthcare gap
It’s also great to note that virtual consultations of all kinds, not just mental health, are slowly taking off in tier-II and tier-III towns. I feel that patients in non-metros are increasingly confident of utilising telemedicine as a new route for consultations. It is helping to bridge the urban-rural gap in healthcare facilities.
With doctors becoming more comfortable going online, people are able to get advice from senior doctors who they have not been able to get access to. Some of the hospitals have also set up remote centres in nearby cities and are also providing assisted telemedicine options, trained nurses. They are training local population to provide immediate medical attention and home care.
Data privacy
Sensitive patient data is an important component of telemedicine. Telehealth platforms need to be cognisant of the same and ensure heightened cyber security. Data privacy will be a key factor going forward in virtual health consultations and greater efforts need to go into this. It is a known fact that patient health data is 50 times valuable than payment information. With the advent of digital health, it becomes sacrosanct to ensure that the data is kept confidential, with utmost caution.
While some of the most popular and widely recognised data security regulations formulated by HIPAA, NDHM with support from NHA have come up with minimum data security guidelines, we can expect more regulations going forward. As you are probably aware, these telemedicine guidelines were released in March 2020. While HIPAA norms continue to be the gold standard, we have to also realise that some other countries have created newer guidelines, of which data residency is one important feature. We can expect a whole lot of new guidelines around data security in the near future.
Research & development
Research and innovation are critical in the health tech sector. The finance minister has promised supportive policies for the pharma sector and we are keen to see these get rolled out. R&D spends have to be improved. Setting up a National Digital Health Ecosystem (as stated in the budget) is a good start as it will have detailed digital registries of health providers and health facilities along with a unique health identity.
Incorporating digital health into the medical curriculum will enable doctors, nursing staff and healthcare workers to adapt to the new virtual environment. There has to be greater focus on artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare, genomics, the use of drones etc. Some efforts also are need in the direction of patient education and improvement of the overall health apparatus across the country.
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