Recent statements of John Chambers, the chairman-CEO of Cisco, are an interesting aperture through which we can view the future. He said, “For a developing country like India, along with education, affordable healthcare is of utmost importance because it acts as a catalyst to accelerate the nation’s social and economic growth…Technology partnerships between the government and private sector will help solve challenges in healthcare and education.” Here he was, the head of a $48 billion-IT giant, commenting on social sector issues that would make any social activist proud.
Chambers’ visionary words are pointers to trends. There is a major transformation underway in healthcare systems and delivery in India; investments and innovation in healthcare are also on the rise. India, as per WHO data, has only one doctor per 1,700 citizens. Advanced medical technologies are now stepping in to act as enablers and bridge the gap with high-technology products and services. At the governmental or the level of medical establishments, the war against disease, poverty and illiteracy is raging. There is a greater need today to create more awareness about how advanced medical technologies can help those affected and suffering from non-communicable diseases which are on the rise for reasons known as well as unknown.
Advanced medical technology today has the power to transform the huge social burden of chronic diseases that account for 67% of total deaths in India. The Harvard School of Public Health has in a study on economic losses due to non-communicable diseases, estimated that the economic burden of these ailments for India will be close to $6.2 trillion for the period 2012-30. These figures are making policy-makers in our country, take note on how healthcare services and advanced medical technologies can today benefit the patients and the governments. Advanced medical technologies are today available, accessible and affordable for Indians; the more awareness we create about them, the lower would be public healthcare costs and the resultant pressure on government/private hospitals. Then the positive, and cascading, impact on social and economic growth would be witnessed.
The critical barriers to accessing healthcare in India include a lack of disease awareness, screening, diagnosis, referrals, trained doctors and funding. From cardiac diseases alone, there are now more than 2.5 million deaths in India. Yet therapy penetration is very low even amongst patients who can afford it. Although there is a new generation of pacemakers, stents, insulin pumps, drug injecting pumps etc. available and affordable, field research indicates there is low awareness about these new medical products and services among physicians in general. As a result, there is lack of patient awareness too. Added to this is the non-availability and lack of awareness of advanced diagnostic tools and the low affordability of treatment. It is important that all these barriers be addressed in an integrated manner.
The device industry and its private players are helping to address these barriers through investing in the development of local healthcare solutions in their own way, today. These could include developing India specific products and services; partnering with NGOs to promote health seeking behaviour through community awareness programmes; strengthening referral networks of specialists and training surgeons in time saving medical technologies; promoting use of therapies that help in faster recovery periods and; pioneering innovative financing mechanisms such as disease specific insurance products and loan schemes to make healthcare affordable.
Integrated approach
The availability of medical home devices is proving to be a game-changer in India. Diabetics, for example, have become adept at using compact electronic gadgets which accurately monitor blood sugar levels. Doctors have affirmed that diabetics, who are vigilant themselves, add greater efficiency to healthcare services.
Such examples abound. Technology today, to revisit John Chambers words, is empowering patients, doctors, hospital establishments, government ministries in ways that were unimaginable a few years ago.
WHO estimates reveals that more than 360 million people in the world have disabling hearing loss. Ear infections have been found to be the leading cause of the problem. It is necessary to seek urgent medical advice for any ear infections. These can be easily detected through a simple examination of the ears by a doctor using an otoscope. Advanced medical technologies have made possible the use of the ENTraview which is an Android-based oto-endoscope that enables examination of the patient’s ear canal, capturing information about the patient’s reported symptoms and diagnosis and, then, transmitting it via 3G data to an internet based data management system. An ENT surgeon can access the uploaded patient data from any PC, evaluate and approve the diagnosis.
These new opportunities are integrating medical services and products in ways that are secure and collaborative and work for the benefit of all patients. Awareness about these medical solutions need to be generated through Central and state medical establishments, and the medical community to currently under-served segments of Indian society.
Governments and NGOs may look at innovative ways on how to make advanced medical technologies available to the masses, to help them fight the onslaught of NCDs and thereby leading healthier lives. Innovative business models in Indian healthcare are attracting world attention: Dr Shetty’s establishment of low-cost Narayana Health hospitals for cardiac care, the Aravind eye-care systems, the continuing success of Jaipur Foot are clear examples of what is possible in the Indian scenario.
Advanced medical technologies for heart care, ear diseases and diabetes are merely some examples of what ground can be covered in the near future in India for the benefit of millions of people. It is time global agencies and national governments would harness the power of these technologies to increase human life-spans while making people healthier and disease-free.
Siddhartha Prakash
The writer is director—corporate affairs, Medtronic India