The second edition of Financial Express Digital Health Conclave 2023 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi, brings together all relevant health leaders and experts, innovators, practitioners, policymakers and stakeholders. This year the theme of the conclave is ‘Mapping the future of healthcare’.
Through a series of on-stage conversations, expert panelists discuss common priorities, best practices and perspectives on the future of healthcare delivery, and explore opportunities to continue improving equity and access to quality healthcare.
With more than 30 speakers and 150 delegates, FE Digital Health Conclave 2023 aims to set the course for a healthier future.
The focus of the conclave remains on discussing a number of pressing topics, including India’s Digital Health ID Mission; Developing Digital Solutions To Deliver Better Outcomes; Proactive population health management; Future of Digital health & the New Imperatives; Covid And Beyond: Resurgence of Infectious Diseases; Improving Patient & Clinical Experience with Advanced Digital Health Technologies; The Future of Healthcare: Let The Data Speak; Has Indian Digital Health Industry Got What It Takes to Catch Up?; and Strengthening the Digital Health Ecosystem in India.
The conclave is the optimal spot for networking and knowledge sharing with peers.
Join us at the summit for a transformative day of content and conversation.
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“Digital health encompasses a range of technologies from frugal technologies and high-end technologies,” said Dr Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Disnguished Professor of Public Health and Director, Centre for Digital Health, PHFI.
With chronic diseases on the rise, we need to redesign the healthcare system given the shortage of doctors and nurses, stated Dr Prabhakaran. “Digital health can provide a one stop solution and reduces the time needed for patients,” he added.
Dr Prabhakaran also mentioned Phygital delivery of healthcare services which empowers doctors to offer a highly-personalised patient experience that can have a long-lasting impact on their patients.
As the Financial Express Digitalhealth Conclave 2023 strives to help shape India’s roadmap to advance the digital health ecosystem, an eminent panel comprising Sudhanshu Mittal, Head & Director Technical Solutions, NASSCOM; Dr Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Professor of Public Health and Director, Centre for Digital Health, PHFI; Rajdeep Ghosh, Chief Product & Technology Officer – Digital Health, Dr Reddy's & Svaas Wellness; Vasanth Venugopal, Chief Medical Officer, CARPLl.ai is having an enlightened discussion on Developing Digital Solutions To Deliver Better Outcomes : The Ecosystem Matters.
The session is being moderated by Sayantan Chaerjee, Execuve Director, PwC.
“In 2010-11, we decided to digitise healthcare so the journey started from there. There are one million ASHA workers and they have been given the task of creating Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA ) ids. But the real challenge lies in training people on how to use this ABHA id and we are still struggling with that,” said
Dr K Madan Gopal, Senior Consultant (Health), Niti Aayog.
He added that 40 per cent of frontline workers' time is spent on data collection.
“During the COWIN experience while we were trying to get registrations done, there was a lot of hesitancy, as people were wary about sharing Aadhar numbers as they are linked with bank accounts. They are not sure of its safety. On the other hand, there are also people who are completely unaware about how data is being used and the technology. We need to educate them and take their consent proactively. That's the biggest challenge. But using ASHA workers helps with the trust in rural areas, but there is still a challenge in urban areas.”
– Aparna U, MD, NHM, Uttar Pradesh
“Even before the pandemic, there was a lot of talk on digitisation. It was known that the healthcare sector would dominate new technology such as Internet of Things with wearables and so on,” said Dennis Curry, Deputy Resident Representave, UNDP. With the pandemic, it was a watershed moment for digitisation of healthcare. “We had to accelerate our digitisation efforts with telemedicine and vaccine delivery.India has offered cowin technology,” he added.
From telemedicine to vaccine delivery, the pandemic accelerated digital health. UNDP is working with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and also with various states on health programmes. In 2014, the decision was taken to digitalise the vaccine supply chain, and that's where UNDP is working in.
– Dennis Curry, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP
“We have created a digital health programme in 16,000 facilities, we have given 1.7 lakh smartphones to ASHA's and 8,000 laptops. The frontline force is geared up. We have come up with E-Kavach which is a primary healthcare programme. There are 2.17 crore families that have already been enumerated, which is 38% of the estimated population of UP. 1.24 crore children under 5 years are also in the programme. Everyone is being given an ABHA (Ayushman Bharath Health Account) ID.”
– Aparna U, MD, NHM, Uttar Pradesh
The first panel of the day is underway. The panel is discussing India's Digital Health ID Mission – exploring its blueprint. The plan is to have a single digital ID for all citizens with complete health information of an individual. The panelists are:
Dr K Madan Gopal, Senoior Consultant (Health) Niti Aayog
Dennis Curry, Deputy Reisdent Representative, UNDP
Aparna U, MD of NHM, Uttar Pradesh
And it is moderated by Prof Dr Rajib Dasgupta, Chairperson, CSMCH, JNU and the Managing Editor , Indian Journal of Public Health.
In his welcome address, Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO, Indian Express Online Pvt Ltd said that digitisation in the last three years has been unprecedented, and that has enabled better reach across the country across all sectors including healthcare. “It enables last mile reach for service delivery providers,” he said.