IT

IT Making Inroads in Healthcare

The conference made an attempt to look beyond administrative management and charter a way forward for practising IT in healthcare

In an attempt to look into new avenues in health information technology, Hosmac Foundation organised a day-long conference on 'Emerging Role of Information Technology in the Healthcare' on February 29 in New Delhi. Against the backdrop of integrating IT in healthcare, the conference was aimed at bringing out global information technology (IT) solutions for healthcare that can be customised and adopted in India for taking a step towards ensuring healthcare to all by 2020.

The conference was inaugurated by Prof MS Swaminathan, MP and Chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and presided over by LS Satyamurthy of Indian Space Research Organisation, Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala from IIT (Chennai), Dr T Sundraraman of the National Health Systems Resource Centre, Dr Sundeep Sahay from National Health Systems Resource Centre, KK Panchal from the Government of Gujarat, Dr S Sabesan from ICMR and Vishawajeet Ringe from National Informatics Centre. Besides, the conference was attended by eminent experts from different domains relevant to healthcare and IT. Policy makers from Government of India also participated in the conference to discuss the issue of making healthcare services accessible to the Indian population. The conference also instituted an oration in honour of Sir Joseph Bhore.

During the conference, speakers emphasised the imperative need for innovative assimilation of IT through applications such as telemedicine, Health Information Management Systems (HMIS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) to maximise the reach of healthcare services in India. While IT's role is more commonly perceived in administrative management, Hosmac Foundation through the conference also made an attempt to look beyond administrative management and charter a way forward for practising IT in healthcare as well.

The conference was divided into three sessions where speakers talked about use of telemedicine, HMIS and GIS respectively. While session on telemedicine was moderated by Rajeev Pradhan, Director-Technology, Hosmac India, Dr SK Das from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare moderated the session on HMIS and Dr T Sundararaman of the National Health Systems Resource Centre conducted GIS session.

While discussing the need and effectiveness of telemedicine for delivery of healthcare systems to the rural and remote population of the country, Jhunjhunwala said, "Our healthcare system is rural biased. Villagers spend 1.5 times more on healthcare compared to their urban counterparts for the same illness— yet the services are not good there." According to Jhunjhunwala, 6.6 per cent rural Indians do not have access to critical medicine, but technology can bridge this divide by connecting villages to town doctors with video conferencing, developed multi-parameter diagnostics and field deployment experiments with healthcare domain partners.

During his speech, Swaminathan emphasised the need for latest IT technologies in the healthcare sector that are available to the urban population to be made accessible to the rural areas of India as well. "The Government is committed to expanding rural connectivity through a slew of measures so that rural users can access information of value and transact business. This will include connecting block headquarters with fiber optic network, using wireless technology to achieve last-mile connectivity and operating information kiosks through a partnership of citizens, panchayats, civil society organisations, the private sector and the Government," he added. He expressed the need for similar initiatives to be made available to rural India in the field of health information technology as well.

Sushmi Dey