Over the last two decades, the Indian healthcare sector is growing at a tremendous pace. This positive growth is majorly fuelled by the innovation in technology which has transformed the conventional healthcare system into an efficient digital healthcare system. The adoption of technology by hospitals, doctors and patients has developed an infrastructure to overcome the current prevailing challenges in the industry and made the healthcare needs accessible to everyone.
As per the estimates of ASSOCHAM and RNCOS, the Indian healthcare sector is going to see a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 percent with many technology trends taking over the industry. Apart from growth, the immense contribution of technology in uplifting the Indian healthcare sector is also expected to revamp the functioning of the system.
Transparency is one of the major concerns in Indian healthcare sector. Adoption of technology and digitization are playing a crucial role in eliminating the ambiguities prevailing in the sector. Transparency is driving the positive outcomes in patients with increased satisfaction. They can avail information on their prescribed medicines, medical records and treatments all at one place. It has also become easier to fix an appointment with doctors and physicians by reading their reviews online.
There are various technology start-ups and enthusiasts who are betting on technology to bring a revolution in the Indian healthcare sector. Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things are becoming the centre of every possible solution that can leverage the growth of the sector. The rise in technology is resulting in a high demand for quality and affordable healthcare in India. The Indian healthcare sector is expected to touch $280 billion in 2020 from $100 billion in 2016, thereby, creating immense opportunities for technology players in the industry.
Artificial Intelligence
The adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by healthcare industry is rising and solving a variety of problems for patients, doctors as well as for hospitals. AI in healthcare works in a collection of multiple technologies which enables machines to sense, comprehend and act just as human cognition. It is making the healthcare ecosystem more organized by performing the administrative tasks and clinical functions more efficiently.
Prior to the adoption of AI, patients did not have the access to information including searching the right doctor, hospital, treatment or even medicines and lab tests. Now with AI enabled applications, they can directly talk to doctors and get the best treatment out for them. Moreover, now doctors can also talk to their peers or experts to seek second opinion and treat patients in a much better way.
In addition, introduction of online pharmacy store is making the lives of the patients much easier by saving time. Now patients can get genuine medicines, their substitutes and even book their lab tests at home. The business model of online pharmacy is interestingly making the healthcare needs accessible to everyone by expanding their reach to small towns and cities in India.
Internet of Things in Healthcare
Internet of Things is transforming the current ailing healthcare system. Internet of medical Things is opening up new ways for patient care by focusing on establishing machine to machine and machine to human communication. It holds the potential to enable networked devices to exchange information and function without human assistance. Various sensors, Wi-Fi and cellular communications links help the IoT enabled device interpret data and make decisions on treating the patients.
IoT in healthcare is works as an aggregator and integrator of data. It lends support to healthcare organizations in making operational decisions and reducing operational costs. It provides a new foundation to gain insights into asset and human resources management. Thus, IoT not only helps in reducing operational costs but also helps in optimizing assets and inventory.
Moreover with the surge in IoT enabled mobile and wearable devices, doctors can easily identify the health risks and effective treatment for the patients. IoT also helps doctors in improving diagnoses by bringing together data from distinctive devices connected through internet and forming a complete picture of a patient’s health status. The visualization of clear clinical treatment through IoT lends value to the patient, doctor and healthcare system.
Many healthcare providers are anticipated to adopt IoT- based asset tracking and inventory management in hospitals. This will result in improving patient’s safety, satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Redesigning healthcare system
Healthcare organizations are adopting new technologies in order to deliver best to their patients. Many hospitals and doctors have already started utilising AI and IoT in their daily lives to improve services with efficiency and better communication with patients. In the coming years, these new technologies are not only going to redesign patient’s experience but also revolutionize the way Indian Healthcare ecosystem operates.
About the Author
Nipun Goyal is the Co-founder and Director of Curofy, where he leads the medical team, handles investor & media relations and oversees overall business strategy. He is a graduate from IIT Delhi, 2012 batch, with major in Electrical Engineering and minor in Business Management. He entered the healthcare industry in college, when he started a medical tourism company. After working for few months in the sector, he saw the bigger problem of inefficient digital health communication, which led towards the inception of Curofy.
Today, Curofy is India’s largest community of verified doctors. Over 90,000 doctors from 600+ cities of India are using it to discuss patient cases with their peers to provide extremely quick and better diagnosis to their patients. Curofy is satisfying their hunger for knowledge and better outcomes. In this process, it is creating a huge supply of “digital doctors”.
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