Healthcare in India is one of the largest sectors in terms of revenue, employment and also it is expanding rapidly. Modern technology plays an important role in ever-growing field of healthcare. India which is a home to more than 1.2 billion people is trying to make best use of technology to provide healthcare to various parts of the country. But still the best efforts are not been so effective as compared to other countries.
In a country where the majority of the masses lives in villages, and where ironically, most healthcare professionals lives in cities, mobile-health has played an essential role to provide healthcare services in all parts of the land. Medical services are now available on a mere simple phone call. Mobile vans equipped with recent diagnostic and therapeutic devices can reach the home of an individual so that the individual does not have to wait in a queue and spend more time outside while being unhealthy. Medicines can reach up to door of a patient, no need to go to medical shops. But all this is available at a price which is only affordable to as low as 20% of the population.
Availability of Internet has been one of the game changing phenomenons in progress of this country. All information related to healthcare is available on internet just on a click of a button. Telemedicine which helps in remote diagnosis, monitoring and treatment by videoconferencing or internet is growing rapidly in our country. ISRO provides a free satellite connection for reaching various areas within the rural India. Many private hospitals, NGO’s, private companies perform their social responsibility by providing the facilities required for tele-medicine in various parts of the country. Doctors from big cities are spending their valuable time to help nurses or doctors in the villages to diagnose and monitor poor people. But Tele-medicine has just taken a start and has to travel a long way. Lot of advancement is needed for an effective use of this technology and the progress also dependent on development of other technologies.
Medical devices are been designed so that they can be used in all climatic conditions without error. Miniaturized devices such as 24 hours monitoring of ECG are been widely used by patients in rural places and the data collected is send by the local doctor to the experts in cities for accurate diagnosis. Electronic medical record system has completely transformed the healthcare system. Data can be transferred from one place to other by use of mobile, internet and satellite within seconds reducing the time of diagnosis. New devices are being designed so as to store vaccines, blood and other medicines for a maximum time possible without affecting the quality especially in areas without electricity.
Availability of fastest mode of transport system has also been one of the contributors to help reach the healthcare to various places within the countries. Special Helicopters are available to provide medicines and other necessary facilities to the victims of natural calamities. Trains specially designed to take care of healthcare during accident cases are being given proper attention. Well equipped ambulances and blood collecting vans are available in many big cities and some villages. Health check up camps can now be easily setup in remote areas by making use of these technologies. Transportation of medical devices has been easy even to places which were not reachable in early days.
But, when it comes to healthcare, there are two India’s: the country that provides high-quality medical care to middle-class Indians and medical tourists, and the India in which the majority of the population lives—a country whose residents have limited or no access to quality care. High quality healthcare comes at a cost and 60% of India cannot afford this advanced healthcare. Only 1% of GDP is made available for healthcare and also lot of corruption in this country is stopping the provision of basic amenities in such areas. As a result of which such an advanced technology providing quality healthcare has still not been effective in reaching all areas as it should be.
The Indian healthcare sector faces substantial challenges, from the need to improve physical infrastructure to the necessity of providing health insurance and ensuring the availability of trained medical personnel. But the opportunities are equally compelling, from developing new infrastructure and providing medical equipment to delivering telemedicine solutions and conducting cost-effective clinical trials.
