Financial Express Online on Thursday organised the second edition of FE Digital Health Conclave. The theme of the second panel discussion was ‘Developing Digital Solutions To Deliver Better Outcomes : The ecosystem matters’.
The session, moderated Sayantan Chatterjee, Executive Director, PwC, included speakers like Sudhanshu Mittal, head & Director Technical Solutions,Nasscom, Dr Prabhakaran Dorairaj, Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Director, Centre for
Digital Health, Public Health Foundation of India, Rajdeep Ghosh, Chief Product & Technology Officer – Digital Health for Dr Reddy’s & Svaas, and Vasanth Venugopal, Chief Medical Officer, CARPLI.ai.
“Digital health encompasses a broad segment…given the fact that chronic diseases are becoming a major burden, we have to re-organise in such a way that we have address the challenge of manpower shortage. Digital health can provide one-stop solution. There is a term now ‘Phy-gital’. There is a huge scope for reducing the time of patients in the hospitals. It can also improve the quality of care,” Dr Prabhakaran Dorairaj, Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Director, Centre for igital Health, Public Health Foundation of India said during the session.
Meanwhile, Rajdeep Ghosh, Chief Product & Technology Officer – Digital Health for Dr Reddy’s & Svaas said that India’s huge population also opens door to huge opportunities along with challenges.
“We are a country of 1.4 billion people. There are a gaps but also opportunities. It always have to be a responsible ecosystem…no one player can solve the issues…We have started working on out-patient care. We are trying to improve the quality and access. We are also working on how to improve affordability. Soon it’s going to sickness to wellness…that is why we are investing in digital therapeutics…if we leverage every aspect of digital health then we can do wonders,” Ghosh said during the session.
Vasanth Venugopal, Chief Medical Officer, CARPLI.ai pointed out that there is a need of focus on both development and delivery of digital solutions.
“There are two aspect: developing and delivering…nothing much is talked about the challenges faced by clinicians. There is a new type of technology called deep learning…although there are many approved digital solutions, there are not much adoptions. Access is a challenge…then are is trust issue. The most important challenge is how to integrate these solutions with the clinicians’ work flow,” Venugopal emphasised during the session.
Meanwhile, Sudhanshu Mittal, head & Director Technical Solutions, Nasscom also stated that there is still a challenge in implementing digital solutions.
“I work with startups day in, day out. In large number of cases, while they have solutions available to them, the problem comes when they take these solutions to the market. They face strong resistance. This is the biggest challenge…private sector is leading such approach…but the adoption is still lagging,” Mittal said during the session.
FE Digital Health Summit included eminent speakers like Dr. R.S. Sharma, CEO, National Health Authority, Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare Government Of India, Anand K, Chief Executive Officer, SRL Diagnostics, Dr Arvind Lal, Executive Chairman, Dr Lal PathLabs Ltd, Prof. Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Director, Centre for Digital Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Dr K Madan Gopal, Senior consultant (health), Niti Aayog, Ms Aparna U, IAS, MD NHM, Uttar Pradesh, Mohd Yaman, Solution Consultant – Digital Media, Adobe, Prashant Tandon, CEO & Co-Founder, Tata 1 MG, Prof (Dr) Rajib Dasgupta, Chairperson, CSMCH, JNU and Managing Editor, Indian Journal of Public Health among others.
With Co-Partner mfine and Silver Partner Adobe, the Second Edition of FE Digital Health Conclave was held on 19th January, 2023 at Hyatt Regency, New Delhi.