eHealth November 2015

Asia’s first Monthly Magazine on the enterprise of healthcare Volume 10

Issue 11

November 2015

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Dr Ravi Gupta EDITORIAL TEAM HEALTH Senior Assistant Editor: Garima Pant Assistant Editor: Pratibha Raju Correspondent: Romiya Das SALES & MARKETING TEAM: eHealth Assistant General Manager: Ragini Shrivastava Mobile: +91-8860651650 National Sales Manager: Fahim Haq Mobile: +91-8860651632 Executive-Corporate Relationship: Priyanka Singh Mobile: +91-8860651631 SUBSCRIPTION & CIRCULATION TEAM Manager Subscriptions: +91-8860635832; subscription@elets.in DESIGN TEAM Creative Head: Pramod Gupta Deputy Art Director: Om Prakash Thakur, Gopal Thakur Senior Web Designer: Shyam Kishore WEB DEVELOPMENT & IT INFRASTRUCTURE Manager-Web Development: Ishvinder Singh ADMINISTRATION Head Administration: Archana Jaiswal EDITORIAL & MARKETING CORRESPONDENCE

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Contents

november 2015 | VOLUME - 10 | ISSUE - 11

10 Corporate Profile

12 Cover Story

Diagnostic Radiology â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Expanding Footprints Focused healthcare intervention by the Indian Government will further push the diagnostic radiology market in the country, allowing more facilities to purchase or upgrade diagnostic imaging equipment, explores Elets News Network (ENN)

20 Feature

Cloud Wave Riding Healthcare The growing matrix of IT innovation in healthcare, particularly Cloud Computing is paving way for the sector to be patient centric and handle the conventional challenges including shortage of doctors, equipments efficiently. In India alone, it is predicted that the cloud market will reach over US $3 billion by next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an almost five-fold increase from 2012, explores Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN)

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Radical Healthcare Innovation

Prakash Kamat, Founder Chairman & MD, SoftLink International

Trend Talk

Vaishali Mutalik

Manoj Kumar, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Ricoh India Limited

Tech Talk

46 INDUSTRY SPEAK

Radiology Linking Well-Being Richard Guest, CEO-Siemens Healthcare, India

Weaving Healthcare Ecosystem 19 Kalyana Raman, General Manager, Marketing,

Secured Cloud a Must 26 Vaishali Mutalik, CEO, HexaTech IT Ventures Pvt Ltd

28 Cloud Brightens Indian Healthcare

Dr Neeraj Raj, Director, MediSysEdutech

32 Converging Trends through Cloud

Satish Jadhav, Director-IoT, Embedded Sales Group Intel South Asia

34 IT Enables Anytime Anywhere Healthcare

Shireesh Sahai, CEO-India, Wolters Kluwer

Spotlight

Telemedicine: Metamorphosing Indian Healthcare Minhaj Zia, Managing Director, Polycom India & SAARC

Start-up

56 Enabling Affordable Healthcare

CURA Healthcare

via Cloud 25 Connecting Rahul Narang, Chief Technology Officer, Lybrate

Technology Thriving Rural Healthcare

Strengthening Relations for Pharma

Sir Michael Rawlings, Chair of the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

Redefining Indian Healthcare Robin Raina, CEO, Ebix

Technology to Transform Healthcare Dr Harish Pillai, CEO, Aster Medcity & Cluster Head Kerela

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Product Launch

57 Philips Launches

MobileDiagnost Opta

NEWS

51 Government Desk 52 International News 54 Hospital News 55 Company News 58 Pharma Buzz

31 Sir Michael Rawlings

editorial

Changing Paradigms Juggling between skewed numbers, the Indian healthcare system and industry has been looking to go beyond the explored territories and discover newer market space. eHealth, in its current issue, and in the upcoming issues aims to explore the newer avenues regions that are likely to push the growth of the healthcare sector in the country. For instance, Radiology players in India are eyeing tier II and tier III cities for augmenting their growth and the sector in India is set to witness significant growth in the coming years. A whole gamut of demographic factors, increased urbanisation leading to sustained economic development and saturation in metro cities are some of the dimensions that draw radiology players to venture into these semi-urban areas and small towns. The Indian market for diagnostic imaging systems is at the moment witnessing a strong growth rate each year and is expected to reach almost US$ 830 million by 2016. What is also aiding this growth in the health vertical is the rising medical tourism industry in the country, pushed by the costly healthcare services in the developed countries and the availability of cost-effective healthcare services in the country. Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s medical tourism market is expected to more than double in size from US$ 3 billion at present to around US$ 8 billion by 2020. Further, in a major boost to the healthcare delivery system in the east, West Bengal government plans to infuse `2,600 crore in the state health sector along with an addition of 17,000 more hospital beds in the year 2015-16, making the health market in East ripe for expansion and looking at significant growth. With new entrants and more start-ups foraying to the healthcare arena, copious health allied business is awaiting West Bengal and North East region. Exploring this region and the opportunities it present, Elets will be organising the 5th Healthcare Leaders Forum, Bengal on December 10, 2015 (hlf.eletsonline.com). The objective of Healthcare Leadersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Forum, Bengal is to bring forward the Healthcare Technology initiatives taken to facilitate quality care in the Eastern part of India. The summit aims to provide a vibrant platform for the innovators, investors and to engage private companies with the East region Hospitals & Healthcare Service Providers. It will also be a platform for all the healthcare service providers to exchange knowledge and best practices with each other for better healthcare system in Eastern India. Looking forward to your participation in making this summit a success and play a vital role in the development of the healthcare development in the country.

Dr Ravi Gupta ravi.gupta@elets.in November / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Interview

Thumbay Group

Redefining Global Academic Healthcare Thumbay Moideen, Founder President, Thumbay Group UAE has chartered unexplored territories successfully, taking his group to new heights. He shares his vision and the journey in a conversation with Dr Ravi Gupta, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia Please tell us about your current operations in the UAE. The Thumbay Group is managed by highly experienced professionals and headed by me, as the Group Founder President. The Group owns the Gulf Medical University, Thumbay Network of Hospitals, among other companies under its umbrella, employing around 3000 people that is expected to grow

to 6000 in the next 2-3 years. The group operates in 13 different sectors catering to students from 73 Countries, faculty and staff from 22 countries and patients from over 175 nationalities in its Education and Healthcare wings. The Thumbay Group owns the Gulf Medical University, Thumbay Network of Teaching Hospitals, Health Communications

Division, Thumbay Laboratories, Thumbay Pharmacies, Blends & Brews - “An International Coffee Shoppe Chain”, Body & Soul Health Club “An International Health Club Chain”, Thumbay Holdings International, Thumbay Builders, Zo&Mo Opticals, and the Terrace Restaurant among other companies under its umbrella.

How much does the Asia-Pacific market contribute to the total revenue? We are only beginning to start our operations in the Asia Pacific Market from November 2015 onwards with a 250 bed multispecialty hospital in Hyderabad, India and acquiring more hospitals in Karnataka & Maharashtra soon.

R&D being crucial in healthcare, Thumbay Group had planned to launch an advanced biomedical research centre. What has been the progress in that direction? The Center for Advanced Bio Medical Research and Innovation (CABRI), a center of excellence under the Gulf Medical University in Ajman, UAE is a leading reference laboratory that performs more than 2000 tests per day. Our team of experts work 24X7 to provide high quality high complexity tests on time. CABRI conducts tests for both national and international clients, using state-of-the-art medical diagnostics. It provides tertiary, high complexity, referral testing

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Thumbay Group

services to hospitals and strives to provide excellence and leadership in laboratory testing services. CABRI was established at the Gulf Medical University for research and for enhancing diagnostics. The lab was inaugurated on 13th January 2014 by His Highness Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Member of the Supreme Council UAE & Ruler of Ajman. We have state of the art instruments and processes in CABRI to help diagnose dangerous illnesses very early so that the individual can be treated and enabled to live an almost normal life.

Could you trace the growth and achievements of Gulf Medical University? Gulf Medical University is the first Indian-owned Medical University in the Middle East, which was setup, in a fully self-financed manner, catering to students from over 73 nations, employing faculty and staff from 22 nations and treating patients from over 175 nations. The university was able to overcome the licensing issues of such a kind of innovative institution, in 1998. We have been instrumental in the development of a Unique Organ System Based Curriculum followed only in a handful of Medical Universities across the world, which has been developed and implemented by GMU in U.A.E to cater to the requirements of international students. The modular organ system based integrated curriculum is divided into three phases lasting for a duration of 5 years followed by a Compulsory Rotating Residential Internship (CRRI). We have also developed an Advanced Simulation based clinical training approach to complement Clinical Training. A Summer Training Program with a worldwide network of institutions to place GMU students for observership and Internship is a unique speciality of GMU. GMU has also been publishing a Health Magazine in English & Arabic

since the last 16 years and had set up a dedicated Health Communications Division in 1999 which has conducted over 300 major conferences, seminars, workshops and other CME events. Along with the regular courses, GMU has innovated and implemented Short Term Courses and Certification programs targeted at the UAE’s working medical and allied health professionals by using the blended learning approach. Having developed a computer based examination system to eliminate paper based exams at GMU, and pave the way to introduce IFOM Exams for its Medical Students, GMU has now been rated alongside leading US-based Universities. The “Training the Trainer” Programs implemented at GMU also helps to foster quality teaching.

CABRI salient features:  First Lab in the Northern Emirates, Accredited by College of American Pathologists (CAP)  Fully automated Laboratory  Reliable  Fast Turn Around Time  24X7 services  Team of 11 doctors delivering high quality service to provide you with accurate and timely reports of MS/MS, LCMS, Histopathology, Allergy, Cytogenetics etc.  Large Test Menu  Web and email reporting

Having attained leadership in medical education in the Gulf, do you have any plans to explore Indian market as well? We are very much inclined to offer the innovative and modern approach to medical education and advanced healthcare in India also. Our Healthcare Division has forayed into the Indian Market by taking over a 250 bed multispecialty hospital in Hyderabad, India.

What regulatory and other challenges do you anticipate in

Interview

doing business in India? The government needs to approve the establishment of foreign universities to offer internationally accepted curriculums in India. The government needs to facilitate easy establishment of foreign Universities on a fast track basis by offering needful incentives and other facilities.

How do you perceive India as a market in comparison to China and Brazil? The number of Indian students currently going out for higher education is over 200,000 and compared to the other markets this is among the highest.

With AYUSH, Yoga and Naturopathy being aggressively promoted by India, how do you foresee the prospects of medical tourism in India? India definitely attracts a large number of medical tourism patients for medical and surgical treatments and with the aggressive promotion of the AYUSH by Government of India it will definitely give a quantum boost to the number of patients seeking alternative medicine treatments in India.

Which other emerging markets you are targeting to take Medical Education and Healthcare to? The Thumbay Group has received several invitations from South East Asia and African countries to establish Universities and Hospitals and we are currently focusing on establishing our campus in the African Continent.

How do you plan to take Thumbay Group in the upcoming years? We are trying to scale up our business in healthcare, education & retail atleast 10 times more in the next 5 to 6 years, increase staff strength to more than 12000 and the net value of the Group to more than 2 billion dollars.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Cover Story

Diagnostic Radiology â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

Expanding Footprints Focused healthcare intervention by the Indian Government will further push the diagnostic radiology market in the country, allowing more facilities to purchase or upgrade diagnostic imaging equipment, explores Elets News Network (ENN) 12

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he Indian radiology market is witnessing tectonic shifts with the major players trying to explore and penetrate the market in tier II and tier III cities with the tier I cities reaching the saturation point. Radiology players in India are eyeing tier II and tier III cities for augmenting their growth. The radiology sector in India is set to witness significant growth in the coming years. Booming demand for healthcare services and greater knowledge about evidence-based diagnosis, added with increasing awareness of available advanced technology, are few key determinants

that have added to the growth of the radiology market in India. As a report published by the Millennium Research Group (MRG) says, the Indian market for diagnostic imaging systems is at the moment witnessing a strong growth rate each year. For instance, in 2011, the diagnostic imaging market witnessed an average growth rate of nearly nine per cent. There is also a prediction that the market might reach almost US$ 830 million by 2016. North America dominates the global diagnostic imaging market owing to growing instances of chronic diseases and a sizeable number of aged population. The market in the

Cover Story

Asian-Pacific region is projected to grow at a rate of six percent through 2022, with China and India witnessing fastest growth because of growing awareness, high patient ratio, increasing healthcare expenditure and government’s focus on health in the developing economies. GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare,

Philips, Samsung Electronics, Hitachi, Toshiba Corporation and Carestream Health are some of the players in this market. A whole gamut of demographic factors, increased urbanisation are leading to sustained economic development and saturation in metro cities are some of the dimensions that draw radiology players to venture into these semi-urban areas and small towns. Dr Harsh Mahajan, MD, Mahajan Imaging, one of India’s preeminent radiologists said, “The tier II and tier III cities have huge potential for the radiology market players, especially for the local and mid-sized players. These cities are emblematic of an area of under-served need, with a growing demand for improved health services and infrastructure.” According to a study conducted by the FICCI, India needs to add huge number of beds for providing satisfactory healthcare. Therefore, many new hospitals will have to be established in tier II and tier III cities, and this might open new markets for radiology companies. Apart from increasing demand for healthcare services, new advancements in radiology are also contributing a lot in the rapid progress of the radiology market in these areas. Experts reveal that earlier the radiology market entered the tier II and III with X-ray services and then ultrasound services were brought in. However, now technologies such CT, MRI, PACS and digital radiology are also available in these cities.

Market in Vogue Jaipur,

Lucknow,

Nagpur,

Pune,

Dr Harsh Mahajan, MD, Mahajan Imaging “The tier II and tier III cities have huge potential for the radiology market players, especially for the local and mid-sized players. These cities are emblematic of an area of under-served need, with a growing demand for improved health services and infrastructure”

Jalgaon, Meerut, Phagwara, Kochi, Bhopal, Ludhiana, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Agra, Amritsar and Nashik are the tier II cites that have witnessed a surge of activity in the radiology market domain. The new areas are tier III cities like Dehradun, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Thiruvananthapuram et al. Imaging and diagnostics chains such as Metropolis Health Services, Suburban Diagnostics, NM Medical and Lifecare Diagnostic Centres are also venturing into these markets. Radiology equipment manufacturers like Allengers, Sonosite, Carestream, Modi Medicals, Toshiba, Fuji and others have exploited most of the avenues available in the tier II city market. These giants have introduced advanced imaging systems that fulfil the needs of radiology departments and imaging centres, both large and small. Giants like GE, Siemens and Philips are also expressing interests in these markets. Dr Mahajan, on the other hand, sees a growing trend of deploying re-used equipment in these markets. According to him, “There are many local medical imaging equipment companies who sell re-used radiology machines to hospitals and imaging centres. These machines are available at a price which is half the cost of a new equipment and provides reasonable, quality services. However, adopting re-used equipment within hospitals and imaging centres could also mean risking patients’ lives.’’ When inquired about the risks involved in using these equipment, he stated: “These machines are normally FDA-approved machines. Radiologists opt for these machines as they are not in the position to invest in high-priced imaging systems. When they buy these reused machines, they feel that at least they are providing a service which was not available to people earlier.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Cover Story

Personally, I feel opting for these machines could risk a patient’s life. One needs to be very careful while purchasing these systems. All safety parameters, especially the radiation dose levels, should be checked prior to buying these equipment.”

Skill gaps Major challenges in the segment include lack of skilled manpower, legal and regulatory issues, and the growing need for huge investment. Eminent radiologists are urging medical education institutes to introduce diploma courses in radiology and imaging operations. They are saying that introduction of such courses can add to the human resources in this field. As per healthcare experts systematic guidelines and proper regulations can be very effective in keeping a check on all fly-by-night operators in this field. Meanwhile some doctors feel that introduction of teleradiology services in all tier III cities and rural areas of India can help in augmenting the success story of radiology in the country.

A Revolution of Sorts Diagnostic imaging has witnessed revolutionary advancements right from bed-side monitoring to high-end digital scanning. These have made

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Advantage India  Availability of qualified radiologists is more compared to other countries.  Availability of radiologists who are trained from different parts of the globe is satisfactory.  India is already an IT hub. This supports the growth of teleradiology as IT is one of the backbones of teleradiology.  Availability of supporting human resources — IT support, transcriptionists, physician assistants etc — is good enough.  India’s geographical location — ability to serve different countries comparably — is favourable.

Radiology players in India are eyeing tier II and tier III cities for augmenting their growth. The radiology sector in India is set to witness significant growth in the coming years

healthcare simpler for the layman. For instance, glucose levels can now be monitored at home, leading to convenience and user-friendliness. As the scope of innovation and advancement is tremendous, the sectors associated with medical imaging, especially IT, is also growing likewise due to the demand for better ways of delivering quality healthcare. At present, nuclear medicine techniques involving gamma and PET/CT imaging are the leading methods in molecular imaging modalities. By 2020, more procedures in molecular imaging are expected to be launched for clinical applications to scan functional aspects of organs besides morphology. Moreover, advanced imaging techniques such as magnetic particle imaging may be developed as alternative option for improved clinical diagnostic results.

India Imaging In the last few years, India witnessed technological shift from analogue to digital and affordable cost of imaging solutions. Remarkable suppliers of high-end systems in India are GE Healthcare, Toshiba Medical Systems, Siemens Healthcare and Philips Healthcare. On the other hand, the Indian Radiological and Imaging Association (IRIA) are also promoting the research on various imaging modalities using various platforms. A study by the Decision Resources Group’s (DRG’s) on imaging diagnostic market in India points to three key ingredients for the growth of this segment high growth of medical tourism due to a low cost; upward trend in acquiring high-end and advanced imaging systems; and increasing demand for refurbished devices in order to check on prices. As per a trend analysis, large MNCs are now looking to modify their products to match the requirements of Indian healthcare facilities. For

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Cover Story

instance, GE Healthcare launched Discovery IQ, a PET/CT molecular imaging system designed in India and is claimed to be 40% more affordable. Toshiba Medical Systems has introduced Vantage Elan MRI system with optional power-saving mode and compact design. Entry of Dabur into imaging segment in Delhi/NCR region is also an interesting development.

Digital Scanning Increasing healthcare burden across the globe due to diverse reasons attributed to specific territories will trigger the demand for advanced imaging solutions, as the sector witnessed aggressive investments and M&A activities in the recent past. The market is poised to evolve with inclination towards innovation and development aspects than the traditional market capturing tactics. According to a study by Yole Developpement (Yole), the global market for medical imaging sensors is projected to grow to 6.7 million units in 2019 from 2.1 million units in 2013, exhibiting a CAGR of 11 percent reaching US$ 142 million by 2019. X-rays device market governs this segment accounting for 93 percent of total imaging solutions market worldwide, due to exorbitant cost of X-ray systems. Growth of diagnostic imaging in India will serve the interest of all stakeholders as introduction of new and cost-effective imaging solutions would be on priority to translate the benefits to the patients. Diagnostic Imaging sector in India is grossly fragmented between three major proponents including corporate hospitals, research institutions and private imaging clinics. A major percentage of healthcare facilities in small cities and rural areas along with government hospitals, barring a few state-of-the-art hospitals, will drive the demand for imaging devices in the country.

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Innovations Optimising Radiology Burgeoning population makes it necessary to have PACS and RIS system to increase efficiency and quality of diagnosis, says ChanderShekhar Sibal, HOD Medical Division, Fujifilm India Private Limited in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN) What kind of impact are you making and attempting to make in the Indian radiology market? We as Fujifilm are committed to bringing quality by innovation. We are bringing new technologies in CR, DR and PACS faĂ§ades which would improve the Radiology Services. We have recently launched Amulet Innovality - Full Field Digital Mammography (FFDM) at Batra Hospital Delhi. This is a screening device with 50-micronpixel resolution can detect breast cancer at very early stage and can help reduce mortality. We have also launched Prima Tm table Top model of CR with mammography reading capability of 50 microns. For Mobile DR Services, we have launched Micro Skan DR in collaboration with Skan ray.

What major advances you have made in the field of Teleradiology and what are your plans in the pipeline? India with a population of more than 1.2 billion, we have approximately 10,000 radiologists so it becomes necessary to have quality, PACS and RIS system to increase efficiency and quality of diagnosis. We are focusing on our SYNAPSE PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System), Clinical Workflow Manager (CWM), and Radiology Information system (RIS) for enterprise solution in bigger hospitals which would bring

efficiency and quality in diagnosis. We have also launched iWeb solution for small diagnostic centers and nursing homes so that one radiologist can report x-rays from 4-5 centers sitting on his workstation.

Brief us about your equipment advances in the domains of mammography. Our country faces an increase in cancer patients and specially breast cancer, every year 1,30,000 new breast cancer patient are detected and this would escalate to 2,00,000 new patients every year by 2020 (study by ICMR). The mortality rate of our breast cancer patient is 50 per cent and the major reason for the same is a lack of awareness and screening in India. Delay in the detection of cancer reduces the survival duration of patient becomes difficult. This calls for the need for more screening devices. Fujifilm has recently launched FFDM with 50 Micron pixel resolution and Tomosynthesis at Batra Hospital. It has Haxgonal Close Pattern Detector which enables 50-micron-pixel resolution and it has two modes of Tomo Synthesis High Resolution and screening modes. We have recently received orders for FFDM with Tomosynthesis from TATA Memorial center â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ACTREC NaviMumbai, IGMC, Shimla, and N M Diagnostics, Mumbai.

Industry Speak

Radiology Linking Well-Being Radiology is paving the way for improved healthcare and increasingly being used by hospitals, shares Richard Guest, CEO-Siemens Healthcare, India with Elets News Network (ENN) What are the major research advances in teleradiology and your plans in the pipeline? Siemens’ syngo medical imaging software makes reading, storing and sharing clinical images easier and more efficient than ever. Its innovative technology transforms the power of imaging equipment into tangible clinical benefits. A common user interface across all modalities streamlines radiologists’ work, boosting productivity. The mobile access capabilities make it possible to view images and findings anywhere and on devices such as iPad, iPhone, etc., providing a whole new level of flexibility. In terms of quality, efficiency, and patient outcomes, syngo enables healthcare facilities to see real results. Although we don’t have direct solutions in teleradiology; we have applications and software that support it.

Brief about your equipment advances in the domains of mammography and coronary CT angiography. Siemens was the first to introduce Cardiac CT scanner in the year 1998. Since then, the CT Clinical Engines introduced by Siemens have enhanced the clinical capabilities of our customers by providing better diagnostic confidence and improving process efficiency by saving working steps and making the entire patient pathway even faster. We have introduced edition of CT Clinical engines, which helps to identify the right approach when diagnosing coronary stenoses by offering full

NOvember / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Radiology Market will see enhanced mobile applications that will improve workflow efficiency, says Richard Guest

spectrum of myocardial perfusion: from first-pass enhancement in both rest and stress assessments to late enhancement for the evaluation of scarred tissue. It helps save user’s time, and the TAVI planning results become more precise and reproducible and standardise and automate image creation. As for mammography, Siemens has been the pioneer in 3D imaging, bringing a new level of confidence to breast cancer detection and diagnosis. We introduced True Breast Tomosynthesis for the first time in the industry, technology that delivers high-quality images for more reliable diagnoses, regardless of breast size or tissue density.

Give an outline of your technological upgrade work in areas of CT scan, USG and MRI? Part of our ultrasound portfolio is the world’s first wireless ultrasound system Acuson Freestyle. This new technology, eliminates the impediment of cables in ultrasound

imaging, expands it’s use particularly in interventional and therapeutic applications. The latest computed tomography products is the Somatom Force, this enables considerably quicker and more precise diagnoses at reduced dose. Advantages of this technology reduces radiation dose by 50 per cent for patients a significant reduction in administered contrast medium. In the field of magnetic resonance our newest scanner is the Magnetom Amira is equipped with the “Eco-Power” technology, which monitors and controls the state of the helium that is responsible for cooling the magnet.

The boundary between radiology and nuclear medicine is getting blurred by the day. Your view point? Siemens is approaching this new trend by introducing solutions by combining two technologies. For e.g. Biograph mCT Flow. Powered by Siemens’ revolutionary FlowMotion™ technology, Biograph mCT Flow™ is the world’s first PET•CT system to eliminate the demand for stop-and-go imaging. Now with Biograph mCT Flow and FlowMotion, planning and scanning is based on a single continuous motion of the patient table.

What future do you foresee for the Indian radiology market? The radiology market in the future will see Mobile applications, enhanced digitalisation that will improve workflow efficiency and faster and better diagnosis.

Industry Speak

Weaving Healthcare Ecosystem Medical equipment and devices is one of the fastest growing sectors hampered by being ‘import dependent’, informs Kalyana Raman, General Manager, Marketing, CURA Healthcare Private Limited in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN) Brief us about CURA Healthcare’s R&D activities in the Imaging solution domain. CURA aims to inspire,care and save lives by making medical technology accessible to tier II and III cities. It acquired a medical equipment company Tuscano in 2015. Tuscano has been into design, development and innovation of medical equipment and software for imaging diagnostics, critical care and kidney care. The company is one among the few Indian R&D labs which is certified by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) . CURA has received patents including design patent for digital radiography systems. The R&D team has designed and developed solutions in nonradiation thermal radiography for breast cancer detection, MAMRIT which has so far done 3000 patient clinical trials successfully. DSIR has accepted the innovation and has allowed grant to scale the same. Other innovations include fluid or air delivery devices for emergency care, imaging diagnostics and critical care, dialysis reprocessor etc. The R&D is focusing to bring customised, ‘Make in India’ solutions in imaging diagnostics, critical care and renal care space.

MRI is getting boost in the country. How are you contributing in providing MRI equipment services?

CURA deals with pre-owned MRI and is one of the few Indian companies which have installed 3 Tesla MRI in the country. MRI actually improves clinical outcome for patients. We bridge the demand-supply gap by offering end to end service support to bring down life cycle cost. CURA’s strength is in its reach and service support.

How do you rate the level of expertise of Indian radiologists and how helpful your digital radiology equipments are for them? Indian radiologists are recognised and ranked as one of the topmost specialists in the international arena of imaging diagnostics. We try to work on co-creation basis, taking inputs from clinicians and work to

provide customised solutions which will meet the unmet needs.

What are your contribution and plans towards Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ initiative? Medical equipment and devices is an important segment of Indian healthcare ecosystem. It is one of the fastest growing sectors but is hampered by being ‘import dependent’ challenge. To address this, CURA has been working relentlessly on creating indigenous medical equipment ecosystem. In its 50,000 sq manufacturing facility in Chennai, it manufactures patented digital radiography systems and critical care devices. The facility is ISO 13485 certified for quality management systems and the products are CE certified.

What are your expansion plans, especially to penetrate tier II and III cities?

CURA has been working on curating indegenous medical equipment ecosystem

CURA acquired DE Healthcare to foray into 4D ultrasound and Color Doppler business, market estimated at around `1000 crore. We launched eZono4000, ultrasound for needle guidance and pain management and VINNO, an affordable Luxury in 4D Ultrasound Color Doppler segment. It also acquired concept integration for manufacturing critical care devices and Tuscano Medical equipments which is into research, design and development of medical devices.

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Feature

Cloud Wave Riding Healthcare The growing matrix of IT innovation in healthcare, particularly Cloud Computing is paving way for the sector to be patient centric and handle the conventional challenges including shortage of doctors, equipments efficiently. In India alone, it is predicted that the cloud market will reach over US $3 billion by next year—an almost five-fold increase from 2012, explores Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN)

ealthcare sector is soaring high on the cloud wave, increasing the ambit of the cloud umbrella in India and across the globe. Cloud technology in India is estimated to be at $600 million by 2020. With doctors getting empowered to access patient information anytime, anywhere, ensuring complete picture of a patient’s medical history to doctors, cloud technology is changing the face of healthcare service delivery. According to industry experts the next big IT goal is cloud computing, which is expected to grow in the coming years, and has a big potential in India.

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Making Rapid Strides With only one doctor available per 1,700 citizens in India; while the Union Health Ministry claims that there are about 6 to 6.5 lakh doctors available currently in the country, the shortage is clearly evident. India would need about four lakh more doctors by 2020 to combat this shortage. As for hospital beds, roughly 100,000 hospital beds have been added annually. The paucity

in the healthcare infrastructure in the country can be leveraged by innovative solutions, particularly the cloud solutions would help to upgrade and improve communication between patients and doctors in a more seamless manner. According to a recent report by Gartner, cloud computing will constitute the bulk of IT spending by 2016. In India alone, it is predicted that

Dr Neeraj Raj, Director, MediSysEdutech “The total addressable opportunity for Cloud solutions in the Indian healthcare industry is estimated to become over US $600 million by 2020.”

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the cloud market will reach over US $3 billion by next year—an almost fivefold increase from 2012. “Most of the countries in AsiaPacific region are grappling with the issue of shortage of doctors. In India specifically, the doctor-patient ratio is skewed with one doctor available for every 17,00 people, unlike in European countries. Use of IT in the healthcare domain can help bridge the shortage of doctors in the country and spread their reach beyond their local area of practice,” said Rahul Narang, Chief Technology Officer, Lybrate to Elets News Network (ENN). Bridging the shortage of doctors is one major reason for IT healthcare development in India, while the non-availability and scattered data pertaining to healthcare is another area where technology can help play a key role.

Cloud Solutions – A Healthcare Enabler Cloud solutions are getting bigger in the Indian healthcare industry as it facilitates the physicians to improve and upgrade their services rapidly, economically and with minimum interruption to service. Talking about the opportunities of Cloud, Dr Neeraj Raj, Director, MediSysEdutech said, “The total addressable opportunity for Cloud solutions in the Indian healthcare industry is estimated to become over US $600 million by 2020. The recent HIMSS Analytics’ survey of cloud computing adoption in healthcare provider organizations reveals that 83 per cent of IT executives reported that they were using cloud services.” A report by MarketandMarkets sector, which studied the cloud market for the period of 2012-2017 in the Indian healthcare, has seen over 20.5 per cent growth a year. In 2011, only four per cent of the healthcare industry used cloud computing. Government of India’s initiative like Digital India and Make in India has also given a massive push in this regard and open avenues

Rahul Narang, Chief Technology Officer, Lybrate “The doctor-patient ratio is skewed with one doctor available for every 1700 people, unlike in European countries. Use of IT in the healthcare domain can help bridge the shortage of doctors in the country and spread their reach beyond their local area of practice.” for a brighter future. “Evolution of cloud technology in healthcare space is happening at rapid pace, we can expect major part of healthcare services to move on to cloud and this will enable healthcare providers to offer cost effective and efficient healthcare services. All major industries are moving to a digital platform, and healthcare is no exception and becoming more patientcentered and data-driven,” said Shireesh Sahai, CEO – India, Wolters Kluwer to Elets News Network (ENN). Hospitals use cloud services to store pathology and other diagnostic reports (x-ray, etc.), maintain and store patient records/billing/ claims, integrate third-party or local applications (HIS, EHR, EMR, Drug Databases, and Clinical Decision Support System etc.) and connect all

stake holders including patients. Informing that cloud technology offers connected care and mobility solutions, which are cost effective and simple to use and its gradually gaining traction, Shibasish Pramanik, Associate Director, PwC India opined that only many private hospitals are adopting while government hospitals have huge limitation to take advantage of these solutions. “The best results can only be achieved when the government hospitals and tier I and tier II hospitals adopt the technology. For that the hybrid network and good health care infrastructure is necessary. In IT innovations can’t be cheaper, quicker and faster. The technology can be adapted and upgraded gradually,” he added. The PwC Health IT team informed that the IT revolution in healthcare

Cloud computing will constitute the bulk of IT spending by 2016. In India alone, it is predicted that the cloud market will reach over US $3 billion by next year—an almost five-fold increase from 2012

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

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should address the challenges in grass-root levels .The cloud technology sector as immense potential and digital healthcare can support a future where everyone can access healthcare in the way that it suits their lifestyle and budget. “Cloud computing facilitates virtual medical records to be on cloud, enabling healthcare experts to have easy access to it from anywhere. With internet penetration in rural segment, people will have access to quality doctors in urban areas. The surge in the usage of smartphones in rural areas coupled with cloud computing will revolutionize Indian healthcare delivery,” Aditya Sinha, Principal Consultant of PwC Health IT team informed. The opportunity for Cloud based solutions among Indian hospitals lies across the Cloud service (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS) and delivery model matrix (Private, Public, Hybrid). Across the three could delivery models, Private and Hybrid Cloud are expected to find greater acceptance among large hospitals. On the other hand, the Public Cloud is expected to find preference

Aditya Sinha, Principal Consultant, PwC Health IT team: “Cloud computing facilitates virtual medical records to be on cloud, enabling healthcare experts to have easy access to it from anywhere. The surge in the usage of smart phones in rural areas coupled with cloud computing will revolutionize Indian healthcare delivery.” among small and medium hospitals for SaaS and IaaS.

Private Cloud Preferred to Public Cloud It is a fact well known that the healthcare IT industry in India is a segment dominated with the presence of private players, so most of them prefer private and hybrid cloud rather than the public cloud and they are hesitant to move to the latter platform. “The leakage of data is a big worry. However, by deploying proper processes these risks can be minimised to a great extent. Data is more vulnerable to leakage when on public cloud. However, virtual private cloud makes it much safer,” Narang informed. Data security is a prime concern

Shireesh Sahai, CEO – India, Wolters Kluwer “Evolution of cloud technology in healthcare space is happening at rapid pace, we can expect major part of healthcare services to move on to cloud and this will enable healthcare providers to offer cost effective and efficient healthcare services.”

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of healthcare sector; particularly the large-scale adoption of the cloud storage system has been in the new age healthcare start-ups, larger hospitals and diagnostic centers they are more protective about patient data, reliability and regulatory compliance.

Start-ups on Cloud Cover Cloud is not only about storage, but companies can move their operations and applications on cloud. With booming start-ups and new healthcare ventures in health arena they are looking out for a web-based interface right from storage, manage, processing data which reduces costs. Cloud solutions cuts down the up-front costs like computer equipment, servers, software tools, database licenses and other IT equipment, leaving businesses with more capital at hand to invest on other business plans. “Yes, it is true that healthcare ventures and start-ups are shifting to cloud, mobile technologies for the availability, reliability and scalability they provide. It is the economies of scale they offer that small business require to grow and they get best out of cloud technologies. With cloud technology, start-ups do not need to build their own IT infrastructure and burn energy on maintaining it. They can rely on cloud services being offered by third party resources and focus on their core job. The model is scalable and cost efficient for companies,” Narang informed. Cloud transforms the economics of IT from capital–intensive to pay-as-you-go model and it offers flexibility and security required to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and gives a convenience like

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a large enterprise by this an equal opportunity is availed for both a startup and an established healthcare enterprise. Healthcare organisations of all sizes, across all geographies, can access information technology resources that previously were out of reach. World-class applications and computing infrastructure are available to all without considerable up-front investment. Boosting the start-ups and SME cloud solutions also leverages the rural healthcare and the sector is also witnessing a considerable growth, inform experts.

Cloud Wave Boosts Rural Healthcare With Internet penetration in rural segment, people will have access to quality doctors in urban areas. The surge in the usage of smartphones in rural areas coupled with cloud computing will revolutionise Indian healthcare delivery. Such initiatives have been under progress like, HP is running Cloudenabled Micro Health Center solution in rural India. The make shift eHealth container centres equipped with cloud-integrated diagnostics called as HP workstations are built in shipping containers as successfully deployed in Chausala a remote village 128 kilometers from Chandigarh in Haryana. The Cloud-based HIMS solution also provides high quality data to city doctors and help them treat the cases through telemedicine. While a Bengal based NGO Innovations in Health joining hands with John Hopkins Institute have build an Internet-based healthcare model, spurred by the need to use

Cloud solutions cut down the up-front costs leaving businesses with more capital healthcare organisations of all sizes, across all geographies, can access information technology. World-class applications and computing infrastructure are available to all without considerable up-front investment technology to detect diseases in rural areas by relatively less trained people. The kiosk with two health assistants, a coordinator and a network of cloud doctors dispense healthcare in lowcost, high quality and credible primary care at the grassroots.

Clouds Promising Effect on Healthcare There is a surge of interest among healthcare institutions in cloud computing and large scale implementation of these technologies will improve productivity, and it would bring in healthcare delivery closer to the patients. “Health organisations are transforming the way they serve their patients which has resulted in the rise of cloud computing in healthcare as

Shibasish Pramanik, Associate Director, PwC India “The best results can only be achieved when the government hospitals and tier I and tier II hospitals adopt the technology. For that the hybrid network and good health care infrastructure is necessary.”

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it is not only cost-effective, but also easy to manage and more secure. As technology is being optimised to tailor solutions for better patient outcomes, both public and private sectors are exploring the benefits of cloud computing services. Though there is currently no data around the penetration of cloud computing in India, specifically, however, globally, according to a recent report by a leading research company, the Healthcare Cloud Computing Market for the period of 2015 to 2020 is pegged at US $9.48 billion,” Sahai informed Elets News Network (ENN). Cloud solutions in health sector holds enormous potential it is yet to be unleashed. However, it will require careful development of a national cloud strategy and radical changes and improvement is needed in healthcare service delivery like poor Internet connectivity, lack of technical knowhow amongst the population, orthodox legal provisions. These restrict the growth of the e-health sector in India and deprive it from the benefits of technological advancement

Industry Speak

Connecting via Cloud Cloud computing in healthcare is promising as it enables to create a pool of centralised data. The technology will revolutionise the data accessibility informs Rahul Narang, Chief Technology Officer, Lybrate in conversation with Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) Could you give us an insight into the prospects of cloud computing in India and the services offered by Lybrate? In the present scenario when small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are contributing significantly to India’s economic growth and start-ups are booming here, the future of cloud computing in the country is very promising. With cloud computing, SMEs and start-ups not having to physically set up and manage IT infrastructure, they can use third party resources and pay for only those technologies which they require to scale their businesses. The ‘pay-asyou-scale’ model with cloud computing results in cost efficiency, and allows businesses to focus on their core work. Besides cost saving, cloud technologies build redundancy easily and helps to keep critical data secure.

How important is cloud technology in healthcare? Cloud makes data accessible from anywhere and anytime. Providing doctors greater access to patients’ medical records and past health history, helping them make better decisions for their patients and treat them efficiently. The ease of accessibility to patient data that cloud services create is immensely beneficial for healthcare companies and medical professionals. Moving forward, cloud will enable data storage from different sources at one location, creating a pool of centralised data revolutionising data

with ICT intervention? Is your company doing something in this regard?

Cloud makes data accessible from anywhere and anytime, says Rahul Narang

accessibility. Besides, prediction of diseases would become far more realistic with the analysis of the aggregated information.

Why are many healthcare ventures, particularly startups and business are shifting to cloud, mobile technologies rapidly? With cloud technology, start-ups do not need to build their own IT infrastructure and burn energy on maintaining it. They can rely on cloud services being offered by third party resources and focus on their core job. The model is scalable and cost efficient for companies.

What should be done to radically change the healthcare service delivery

As discussed already, the core problem in India healthcare is inaccessibility of doctors on account of shortage of healthcare experts in the country. This is the fundamental problem that Lybrate is solving with the use of technology. Our healthcare communication and delivery platform is the first-of-its-kind in India that allows users to communicate with doctors from anywhere, anytime. By letting this happen, we have bridged the gap between patients and doctors and made healthcare accessible. Perhaps, this was not possible without the use of technology.

What are your growth plans at healthcare organisation by way of IT? We are democratising Indian healthcare by letting people communicate with doctors from anywhere, anytime. This has eliminated boundaries for doctors who could now reach out to people beyond their geographical location of practice. Besides, our unique health feed consisting of health tips from doctors aims at encouraging preventive mindsets among the people and help them live healthy and fit. Lybrate has taken upon itself the gigantic task to make healthcare accessible to the billion plus population of India and we are making the maximum use of technology to let this happen.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Industry Speak

Secured Cloud a Must Technology vendors have to build robust security into the cloud technology to ensure that all administrative and clinical data is secure and safely maintained, says Vaishali Mutalik, CEO, HexaTech IT Ventures Pvt Ltd while speaking to Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) What are the solutions HexaTech offers that enhances the current IT infrastructure? HexaTechâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Healthcare IT solutions provides adoption of cloud computing allowing healthcare players to focus on providing cost effective and highly efficient healthcare services. We provide advanced progressive and integrated IT solutions that enhances usage of IT infrastructure and ensures that benefits arising from technological improvements, which are put to use for better collaboration and co-ordination of patient care process and EHR.

Where does cloud computing fit in healthcare? Service providers play a major role in adoption of cloud in any industry and healthcare is no exception. Cloud can enable service providers to rapidly and cost-effectively integrate their applications, end points, and operations capabilities into a set of cloud services that can be deployed to customers, be it providers, governments, payers or patients using a wide range of network connections. In many cases these services can be composed of existing applications, infrastructure and workflows that may be located anywhere in a cloud configuration without requiring colocation to a set of consumers that can either be permanently or temporarily connected into the cloud system.

What future does cloud computing have in India? In Cloud, IT resources and services are abstracted from the underlying

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infrastructure and provided ondemand and at scale in a multi-tenant environment. New advancements in cloud technology are fundamentally changing the way healthcare providers operate their technological infrastructure. They are realising the benefits of adopting cloud technology, instead of owning and maintaining huge data centres that need massive investments in technology and human resources. Concerns about patient data confidentiality and security issues are also weighing down heavily on the adoption of cloud technology. Technology vendors have to build robust security and disaster recovery features into the cloud technology to ensure that all administrative and clinical data is securely and safely maintained. More and more vendors are offering healthcare solutions and services such as telemedicine, EMR, medical imaging and patient management that can be consumed or integrated by healthcare providers over a cloud system.

What is the role of Big data analytics and its key advantages? Many healthcare organisations struggle to manage the ever-growing amount of digital data. Mass EHR data, digital imaging and numerous clinical applications put severe strain on existing infrastructures. Innovation has become a regular Cloud technology is changing the way healthcare operates, says Vaishali Mutalik

phenomenon and technology upgrade is a major challenge. Any failure in building meaningful inter-operate data migration processes may give diminishing returns on the technology investment. The trend is towards more mobility from healthcare service providers and to develop an effective mobile strategy. Patients today expect healthcare at their fingertips. The overall technology surrounding the healthcare in terms of hardware and software has to go through vast changes in next few years. With the change in the usage and larger acceptance of mobile applications, setting up e-hospitals and remote control treatment mechanism would become order of the day. Hence usage of cloud technologies is imminent.

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Industry Speak

Cloud Brightens Indian Healthcare Cloud technology is here to stay and play a vital role, particularly in the healthcare sector as it needs constant upgradation informs Dr Neeraj Raj, Director, MediSysEdutech in conversation with Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) Give us an insight into the prospects of cloud computing in Indian healthcare? Cloud computing has proven to be a tremendous innovation in the digital scenario, changing the way IT solutions are delivered and put to use by end users. It plays a key role in increasing the efficiency and functioning of the healthcare industry for it is characterised by high volumes of patient and informative data. At MediSys, we focus on delivering quality healthcare education to current and future medical professionals using ICT based teaching and learning aids. The development of cloud storage has helped us decrease our IT spending, enabled information to be accessible from anywhere and helped increase efficiency. Cloud computing in India is here to stay and plays a vital role in helping large and small scale industries grow, generating employment and boosting up the IT services in India.

Where does cloud computing fit in healthcare? The healthcare industry is

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Cloud computing helps to streamline storage and easy accessibility of patient data, says Dr Neeraj Raj

in an upward growth momentum, which requires constant innovation. The sector is now highly motivated, automated and dependent upon technology to run. Cloud computing is drastically helping streamline storage and easy accessibility of patient data, helping take medical education online making it more convenient and accessible, solving the problem of duplication of records and bridging the vast divide between the delivery of healthcare services in rural and urban areas. However, the adoption of cloud-based services in day-to-day healthcare management has been slow and restricted due to several reasons. Besides confidentiality of patient information and compliance issues, India suffers from paper medical records, duplicate tests, filmbased radiological images, handwritten notes, fragmented IT systems, and silos of information. In addition to this, most healthcare providers use outdated legacy systems and have staff who are not geared for the adoption of a

HEALTHCARE LEADERS FORUM

Industry Speak

comprehensive cloud strategy. Laws and regulations too have not been updated, which become a hindrance in this regard.

Among Asia-Pacific region markets India seems to be more attractive markets in IT healthcare. Your comments. IT healthcare development in the last 10 years has not seen as much growth in India as was expected. It is still in the nascent stage. The Western market has seen unprecedented growth in this regard owing the fact that the insurance sector there works hand in hand with the hospital’s IT sector. There is an immense potential for its growth in India and introducing a unique healthcare Id number for all individuals can further accelerate this.

Why many healthcare ventures, particularly start-ups and business are shifting to cloud, mobile technologies? Healthcare start-ups have tremendous potential in India owing to the various challenges the sector faces regarding the availability and access of quality medical care, skewed doctor – patient ratio, and the shortage of hospital beds. Mobile and web-based technologies have now made it easier for patients to access everyday healthcare services from the comfort of their homes. In the personal healthcare space, cloudbased mobile technologies have seen a growth owing to the development of mobile and wearable devices as ways of tracking health problems especially the chronic ones. There has new trend of opting for home health services over just a hospitalbased approach. ICT based medical education offerings like those provided by Medisys, are helping medical students enhance their skill sets, secure knowledge about diverse subjects across specialtiesfrom the comfort of their homesand helping in

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improving the medical examination pass ratio in the country. Medisys through its services aims at reducing the problem of the skewed doctorpatient ratio in the country and lack of qualified medical professionals in both rural and urban areas.

What according to you should be done to radically change the healthcare service delivery with ICT intervention? Is your company doing something in this regard? The aim of ICT for Health will improve significantly the quality, access and efficacy of healthcare for all citizens. Every nation is seeking to improve

The courses built by Medisys for the Indian Medical Association have become the first ICT-based offerings (in their componentized format) to qualify for CME credits from the Medical Council in India. The objective of these courses is to enhance the knowledge, selfconfidence, and impact that a GP can make in public healthcare.

How useful would be cloud computing in rural healthcare? Cloud infrastructure can help bridge the rural-urban divide in terms of accessibility of quality healthcare services. A few ways in which this is possible include:

There is an immense potential for the growth of IT healthcare in India and introducing a unique healthcare ID number for all individuals can further accelerate this the quality of its health care and at the same time to control escalating costs and ICT helps to achieve this. There are two elements in healthcare service delivery which are set to change the way ICT is used – first being the shift to home personalised services and secondly the availability of a large number of tools to connect patients to their doctors We at Medisys are addressing the fundamental problems of the skewed doctor patient ratio in the country, inaccessibility of quality medical care in rural areas, and the lack of specialist doctors. Through our ICT based learning aids, we empower general practitioners to become mini specialists, help enhance the knowledge and confidence level of doctors in rural areas through case-based courses and help aid medical students pass the required examination by providing them vast learning material across specialties and topics.

• Patients from Tier II and III cities can consult doctors based in metro cities through Audio/video/web conferencing • Given that specialty hospitals are scarce in smaller cities, technology can be used to locate the nearest hospitals, specialists in a region • Facilitating online consultation and prescription services reducing the costs incurred by the patient in traveling to the closest metro cities drastically • CME courses offered by e-medical universities like Medisys can be used by doctors in rural areas to enhance their skill-set, update their information and understanding of various disease cases across specialties • UG-Med courses offered by Medisys can be used by medical students in rural areas to access a vast database of knowledge, cases and learning material without having to travel to metro cities as aids to pass their qualifying examination

Spotlight

Strengthening Relations for Pharma

Indian pharma contributes substantially to UK healthcare system, making it more affordable, says Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, Chair of the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in conversation with Romiya Das of Elets News Network (ENN) What is your overview on the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry? The Indian Pharmaceutical industry plays a major role in the provision of health services in the UK, with approximately 25 per cent of the medicines consumed made in India. A large number of generics used in British National Health Service are also Indian made and represents value for money. Therefore, Indian pharma contributes substantially to our healthcare system and making it affordable.

How does UK seek the investment market in this industry? There are a number of British companies who have invested in India. They see India as a vibrant market with strong qualities, particularly in

chemistry. Some people call India the pharmacy of the world and we want to encourage investment in UK as well.

Can you elaborate on the working of MHRA and its guidelines? The MHRA comprises three centres - first is the regulator (MHRA) which regulates medicines and medical devices, underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements. The second is the National Institute of Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) which is the source of 95 per cent of WHO international biological standards for and is responsible for batch release of biological products. Thirdly, we have the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) which can provide access to

the anonymised medical records of 20 million patients. It is also a valuable tool for primary research to ensure drug safety.

What according to you are the major challenges presently faced by both India and UK pharmaceutical Industry? There are number of challenges. For new drugs there is a requirement to reduce the development costs. Also, it is sensible to encourage increased production of generic products.

How do you see the scope of investment of UK pharma companies in India? There are two aspects – one is to take the advantage of the expertise India has, there are many great scientists. Secondly, we need to harvest the entrepreneurial spirit that has been so prevalent on my visit here.

Could you elaborate on your collaborations between MHRA and CDSCO?

Sir Michael Rawlins: Good quality manufacturing comes right down from the top levels of management

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on 5th October 2015. We are determined to increase collaboration and strengthen ties between the two countries by promoting each other’s regulatory frameworks, requirements and processes. It is essential that good quality manufacturing comes right down from the top levels of management and throughout the entire industry. With this both countries will continue to learn from each other.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Industry Speak

Converging Trends through Cloud Cloud is a new computing paradigm that can provide a variety of services to aid the patient and doctor community. It creates an expansive healthcare infrastructure at a competitive price point, informs Satish Jadhav, Director - IoT, Embedded Sales Group Intel South Asia in conversation with Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) What are the challenges encountered in cloud computing in healthcare space? The healthcare sector is definitely moving towards technology adoption, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mired with numerous challenges including budgetary constraints, ageing population and rise in lifestyle related ill-health. Technology and mobile phones have brought in a revolution in the way we live and the health care industry can significantly benefit from this revolution. Cloud is a new computing paradigm that can provide a variety of services to aid the patient and doctor community and create an expansive healthcare infrastructure at a competitive price point. Today, with a robust configuration of advanced IT technologies, from software as a service (SaaS) to managed hosting and hardware platforms, medical organisations can benefit in multiple ways from cloud computing.

What are the key benefits of cloud computing in healthcare? Cost effectiveness is a key for hospitals to succeed. Even the largest hospitals cannot match the cost effectiveness of massively scaled cloud providers and solutions without investing heavily in hardware, software and resource. In addition cloud computing brings in

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efficiency with easy anytime access at relatively low capex. Personal record keeping, hospital management and increasing hospital reach through remote infrastructure based on cloud can benefit this sector immensely.

How much should healthcare industry spend on IT, out of which how much should be towards the cloud? Healthcare industry needs urgent investment in technology to bridge gaps between rural and urban as well provide higher quality of healthcare services. Industry is shifting from a feefor-service to an accountable care model, which makes hospitals to invest in IT to mitigate financial risks. Investments in data analytics and modern clinical infrastructure are the foundation for hospitals to seamlessly deliver healthcare services across their inpatient, outpatient & alternative care sites. Hospitals cloud investments and in general IT spend will make them better equipped to cater to the ever growing population while delivering the best in class healthcare services.

Many hospitals invest in private cloud; do you think safety of data is the major concern? Several

healthcare

executives/

Intel is building partnerships to transform healthcare in India and globally, says Satish Jadhav

organisations have concerns about data access, privacy, cost, and resort to maintain medical under lock and key as a safer bet. The IT support needs to be efficiently managed EHR under security and compliance regulations. This can easily overwhelm even the most IT-savvy medical practices. And data breaches are becoming more common. As EHR mandates and regulations and standards are changing the practice management landscape, hospitals large and small have to adapt to these changes. Cloud computing

Industry Speak

both, private or public can definitely make a difference. Depending on the cost effectiveness and risk factors hospitals have adapted the cloud services. Globally, Intel along with CareCloud and Terremark helped South Florida Medicine, a multi-specialty practice to move from their in-house cost prohibitive IT system to CareCloud healthcare IT platform which helped them consolidate their date and workflow for multiple locations. Practice management is life blood for medical organisations and moving on to cloud helps quick scalability on a single practice platform.

What are the reasons for many healthcare ventures, start-ups shifting to cloud? With changing times medical practice needs advanced software and hardware to manage medical practice however IT infrastructure is hard to maintain as it requires a different domain expertise besides being an expensive proposition. Healthcare cloud computing services on the other hand are robust, scalable and flexible and aid healthcare ventures in every aspect of their business growth. Growing startups and healthcare business need rapid reporting and data access. With security, compliance, privacy and coding being a serious concern in this industry reputed cloud computing providers are the best way forward to grow business. Companies like Intel are collaborating with CloudCare and Terremark globally to provide the best cloud computing infrastructure for healthcare. The collaboration enables data centers, technology platforms and infrastructure with servers powered by Intel ® Xeon ® processors that ensure all data are monitored and secured by meeting the highest standards of compliance requirements.

What according to you should

be done to radically change the healthcare service delivery with ICT intervention? Is your company doing something in this regard? Right collaboration is the strategy to build a robust health care infrastructure. Combining right managed services that monitor compliance and governance, robust servers run on processors that provide hardware assisted security and powerful processing power and best application providers who can streamline clinical, financial and administrative management will be the key to a radically efficient healthcare management system. In India and globally Intel is using this strategy to build partnerships that can transform the healthcare business using technology as an enabler while delivering a better customer service experience.

Using Cloud Computing in sensitive healthcare field how do you combat risks like hardware/ software failure, network failure, security attacks and natural disasters? As healthcare environment becomes more connected, safe, secure medical devices and networks are essential. Intel as technology leader believes, reliable and leading edge security should be built into every medical device from the hardware layer up. With the creation of baseline Medical Device Innovation, Safety & Security (MDISS) standards, leading technology companies are working to address security and safety issue from IT perspective. Intel has also developed a platform approach based on Windriver’s hypervisor software, security technologies built into Intel multicore architecture and software solutions from Intel Security (formerly McAfee). The result is comprehensive approach to security at all levels from application layer to below the operating system and

security technologies built into the hardware layer itself. A combination of best of breed technologies and collaboration with leading tech companies can certainly combat risks like hardware/ software failure, network failure, security attacks and natural disasters.

How useful would be digital adoption and cloud computing in rural healthcare? The very low doctor patient ratio in India demands quicker adoption of digital infrastructure to enable reach of essential services to rural areas quickly. While urban India, has some of the best healthcare facilities with high adoption of technology, providing high quality of healthcare services. However, the scenario is completely different in rural India where the medical infrastructure lacks even the basic needs. Technology access for healthcare is still a faraway reality in remote areas therefore there is a need for sustained efforts from both the Government and private sector to create uniformity in healthcare technology adoption. Cloud technology can make healthcare applications like Electronic Record Keeping(EMR), Hospital Information system (HIS) and Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) possible. These in turn can be a valuable asset to rural healthcare system.

What is the next big thing happening at healthcare organisation by way of IT ? Unprecedented global forces are transforming healthcare. This means that device manufacturers must adopt newer technologies that bring down compliance, privacy and security risks while delivering the best in class medical practice management. To succeed in this environment you need an architectural approach to technology that helps you meet new growth opportunities.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Industry Speak

IT Enables Anytime Anywhere Healthcare The Indian healthcare sector is combating with challenges like lack of infrastructure and shortage of healthcare professionals. Technology like Cloud Computing can penetrate best practices in healthcare across the country uniformly, informs Shireesh Sahai, CEO – India, Wolters Kluwer while in conversation with Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) Could you give us an insight into the prospects of cloud computing in India? All major industries are moving into a digital platform, and healthcare is no exception. The interest for cloud computing in the health care segment in India is in its initial stage. Cloud services extend to healthcare and provide reduced IT costs in the face of continued margin pressures and the critical need to generate and store large amounts of health information. Hospital connects all stake holders including patients, enabling easy access to healthcare.

What is unique about Wolters Kluwer’s software ‘UptoDate’? Wolters Kluwer’s UpToDate is an evidence-based, physician-authored, support system, which offer right point-of-care decisions. Nearly one million clinicians across 174 countries refer to it when it comes to evidence-based medical knowledge. With the increasing digital

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penetration in India, the software has a credible customer base which includes around 10,000 specialists across India. A user of this software has access to more than 10,500 clinical topics across 22 medical specialties, more than 1,500 patient information topics, around 28,000 graphics, 160+ medical calculators, 5,400 unique drug entries and much more. Treatment decisions involve a tradeoff between benefits on one hand, and risks, burden, and costs on the other. The software enables better clinical decisions, improved quality of care, patient safety, efficiency and mortality. It has been the subject of more than 60 research studies. Researchers at Harvard, over a three-year period, associated the use of UpToDate with lower mortality rates, shorter lengths of stay and improved quality of every condition on the hospital quality metrics.

Your software is used by the government hospital like

AIIMS and private hospitals like Max Multi specialty; how does it solve the purpose of a government and private set-up? Software is focused on healthcare professionals, irrespective of whether they are practicing in the government sector, the private sector or having individual practice. The concept behind UpToDate is to create an integrated set of best information pool which is focused on improved quality of care and enhanced clinical productivity. However, given the demographics and population of our country, Indian healthcare professionals have more exposure to patients, which increases their probability of coming across new clinical situations, wherein a ready reference tool such as UpToDate is always an advantage. Also, particularly, in the remote areas, where doctors have limited people to consult with or refer to, the presence of a peer-based tool will be helpful.

Industry Speak

If PHC in rural area have access to evidence-based tool, such as UpToDate, it will enable primary care physician to give advice from world’s most trusted resource. This will give better health outcomes and less economic burden. The software is also used by young doctors doing their post-graduation. As per Mayoclinic, use of this software for 20 minutes per day during routine patient care had the same effect on test performance as an entire year of residency.

How do you combat risks like hardware/ software /network failure, security attacks and natural disasters? As the name indicates the software UpToDate Anywhere app is evidencebased and once downloaded, the user can have access without Internet connectivity. This can be helpful in rural areas which have poor connectivity. We recommend our users to continuously update their app so clinicians can answer the medical questions from their smartphone or tablet. When the earthquake happened in Nepal this year, we offered free access of the software which enabled many physicians to give treatment to survivors.

How Wolters Kluwer India will be expanding its digital health segment? Please elaborate. In a hospital setup, professionals need multiple solutions to enhance their knowledge and give best possible treatment to their patients. Our solutions enables healthcare professionals from any tier such as specialist, primary care physicians, nurses, pharmacists, researchers and medical students to deliver better health outcomes. Our leading innovative digital solutions which are used by healthcare professionals across the globe are UpToDate, Ovid, Lexicomp, Provation, 5 minute consult, Nursing

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solutions, Healthcare Communication and many more. • Ovid - It is a research platform which enables healthcare institutions to access world renowned journals, eBooks, databases and many other resources electronically. • Lexicomp - A drug information resource which provides clear, concise, point of care drug information, including dosing, administration, interactions, warnings and precautions. • Provation They offer documentation software to automate workflow for clinicians and nurses in hospital set up. 5 minute consult guides primary care physicians. • Nursing solutions - Procedures and Nursing Advisor which addresses skill gaps and continue education for nurses practicing in a hospital set up. • Healthcare Communication – It is a course designed to develop a culture of smooth and effective communication in healthcare set-up. Studies show that given a chance patients would speak about their problem for 55 seconds, but on average physicians interrupt 18 seconds into the interview.

Many hospitals and healthcare professionals have also embraced the power of going digital. Health professionals nowadays refer to online reference tools to support their clinical decisions; new digital applications are launched, e-commerce portals have come up to facilitate delivery of medicines, fix appointments, medical consultation. Today we see surge of practice management tools in India but future lies in integrated practice management tool with Clinical Decision Support System for better health outcomes and save patient lives.

How useful would be cloud computing in rural healthcare? Cloud technology can help in reducing cost burdens and also giving world class treatment in remotest location which is not possible today because of urban and rural divide. Today a villager visit hospital only in emergencies and lack regular follow up treatment. This will help in implementing standard treatment across geographies. Therefore this will be more helpful in rural setup.

How will Digital India programme and the rapid spread in internet penetration be a big booster in healthcare industry in India?

IT healthcare development in Asia-Pacific region particularly in India is seen as more attractive markets than European countries. Your view point?

The Digital India initiative is aimed at preparing India for a knowledge future which in turn would also prove as a booster for the healthcare industry. The initiative has already aligned its efforts in supporting and elevating the healthcare industry under its e-Kranti programme which is aimed at providing a better and hassle-free experience for the patients with initiatives like online medical consultation, medical records, medicine supply and pan India exchange for patient information.

India have many healthcare challenges, be it infrastructure or number healthcare professionals. IT healthcare development can enable to penetrate best practices across country uniformly. Developing countries lack infrastructure, they are set to benefit more from mHealth than developed countries which have a legacy system and worker-base to deal with. Europe’s public health infrastructure is a source of huge employment, and mHealth is seen by many as a threat.

ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON e-GOVERNANCE

ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON THE ENTERpRISE OF HEALTHCARE

ASIA’S FIRST MONTHLY MAGAZINE ON ICT IN EduCATION

A quALITY MAGAZINE ON BANkING ANd FINANCE

Spotlight

Redefining Indian Healthcare Ebix Inc. has not ventured into the Indian healthcare market to convince or compete but to create, build and pioneer a new trend in healthcare, says Robin Raina, CEO Ebix in a conversation with Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) What are the opportunities you see in the health insurance space in India? Overall, the Indian healthcare market is young right now with many of its sections in a nascent stage. One of these sections is the health insurance market, which is primarily governmentdriven. I believe the health insurance sector in India will start evolving soon,

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and the sea change that this sector needs will eventually be brought about. Compared with the west the health insurance market in India is miniscule. As I see it, many vital pieces of the puzzle are missing. First and foremost, the technology aspect is not well-defined at all. Secondly, the sector badly needs a Customer Relation Management (CRM) system to be able to better market

data from consumers. Consumer data will not only help the players in this sector trace the history of a typical consumer but will also help them define market trends. Thirdly, people who buy insurance should ideally have multiquoting information so that they can make informed decisions. In India, this is hard to come by. It is very important to ensure that there is a real-time connection between the carriers and the consumer. The consumer has to be empowered; he has to have enough information on the best insurance services available. Ideally, the consumer should not only get to compare rates but he should also be kept abreast of the trends in health insurance in general. For insurers, it is very important that they have a health tracker, but in India this is a challenge. On the data side, I believe all insurance related data of a person should be online. Of course, it should be completely secured, and one should even have walled mails. Again, the brokers and Third Party Administrators (TPAs) in India need a complete back end system, something akin to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

Tell us something about Ebixâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health care solutions. What we offer is a holistic umbrella of solutions. Right from health care enrolment, CRM, portals, multi-quoting order and trade, policy creation and policy administration for brokers to insurance company TPAs, commission handling between the brokers and union issues related to manufacturing, we offer the entire range of solutions. Apart from this, Ebix has the largest encyclopedia of health content covering the entire health spectrum including the human body and disease management. Our content is used by the U.S. government, Google, Yahoo, Reuters and many others globally.

How is Ebix contributing to health care delivery set-ups around the world and in India?

Spotlight

Globally, some governments have made it mandatory for doctors to obtain continuing education credits. This means if you are a practicing doctor, it is mandatory for you to keep abreast of the latest trends in your field. Ebix offers continuing medical education solutions to practicing doctors to help them obtain credits. Typically, these are three hour online tests approved by top medical bodies like Harvard Medical School and Johns Hopkins, which can be taken thrice a year. In India too, a few states like Jammu and Kashmir have started adopting this model. There is a real need for governments across India to adopt the continuing medical education model, and make it mandatory for doctors to take regular tests to keep themselves updated. With the Jammu and Kashmir government we have a good start. In India, where the immense pressure on health care delivery system means that the quality of care has to suffer sometimes, putting this system in place should really help.

of patients in a day. We need to put a system in place urgently to ease some of this pressure. I would say the socialist system of health care delivery needs to be overhauled. Free medication and treatment should be available only to those who cannot afford to pay. We really need to exclude the haves and focus completely on the have-nots. I say, give the underprivileged free care and only provide subsidized care to others.

What is your take on universal health coverage in India? Universal health coverage in India, if it ever happens, would be a ‘dream come true’, but before this dream does come true, the challenges to be surmounted are enormous. A country of 1.2 billion needs to invest billions of dollars before it can even begin to think of universal health care. To say that our ambition is to provide universal health coverage in this country is all very well, but we have harsh realities to deal with in this country. I work in some of the slums around Delhi, where I often see these realities playing out. Although the conditions here have improved over the years, and people now have access to dispensaries and basic health care facilities, I would say we have a long way to go. The pressure on the health care delivery systems in India is huge. In government hospitals like the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi, you have a single doctor attending hundreds

Robin has rung the NASDAQ opening and closing bell three times in New York for his charity week highlighted in Time Square

How well would you say is Ebix placed to redefine the healthcare market in India? Ebix is not here to convince or compete but we have ventured into India to create, build, change and pioneer a new trend in healthcare. We have now started working with various state governments across the country; we are working with chief ministers and health ministers across these states. To understand what Ebix has to offer, think of us as a toll booth. We provide software platforms and get paid for our utility services. For health insurance alone we have more than 50 service applications. We call these interlinked applications the Ebix Enterprise Solution.

How do you think will the Digital India initiative boost the healthcare industry in India? As far as the Digital India dream goes, think of me as a big believer. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put the spotlight firmly on the power of the digital medium. He has been really smart about drawing international attention to India’s capabilities as a soft power. He knows he has to get the international community to invest in his digital dream for this dream to turn into reality. Although we are in the early stages of India’s digital journey, India is poised to go places. It is important for us to understand that the digital medium has the potential to solve so many of India’s problems. As Indians, we need to support our Prime Minister and back his vision, but sometimes people are impatient and do not understand. Prime Minister Modi is doing a great job and the present government has brought in a refreshing change. I have also been interacting with many state governments and I would say the mood is upbeat. I would also say that companies across the board will be interested in doing business with India if the policies are transparent.

What are your plans for India? Ebix Inc. has huge plans for India, particularly in the healthcare domain. There has been a string of acquisitions in India; one such acquisition was Via Media Health through which we are now trying to reach the Indian market. Via Media Health’s acquisition will also aid the process of developing customized solutions for the Indian market. Overall in India, we have about 2000 employees right now. Two years from now I expect this figure to be 5000. We are looking to invest about 100 million dollars in India in the next two years. I would say we are pretty optimistic about India and see a great opportunity here.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Trend Talk

Technology Thriving Rural Healthcare Innovative technology can build up robust rural healthcare at an affordable price, says Manoj Kumar, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Ricoh India Limited in conversation with Romiya Das of Elets News Network (ENN) What is your opinion on IT innovations making space in Indian healthcare domain? Healthcare in India is more about sick care rather than preventive care and the situation can be changed by using technology through dissemination of information to the masses on adopting healthy living styles. Nearly 900 million mobile and 200 million Internet users use ICT programmes through mobiles and social media. We can work on health online platforms by using applications and gadgets, connecting patients live to their healthcare providers via telemedicine, and also make use of teleradiology and telediagnostics. Some of the research have highlighted that less than 50 per cent of patients take their medicine on time. So to cater this, auto reminder applications for timely intake of medicines can be helpful. Also, having electronically monitored and controlled healthcare centres which can store citizens health records electronically through which their medical data can be tracked and monitored. Ricohâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recently launched product - Picasso (Patient is Central to this Advanced Solution and Service Offering) is a picture archival communication system which helps storage and retrieval of medical data at an affordable cost. Such technology helps in improve the quality of healthcare delivery. Our spent on healthcare is a dismal 3-4 per cent

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of our GDP. In some of the advanced countries about 7-10 per cent is spent on healthcare. When it comes to healthcare our country spends mostly on maintaining infrastructure and health programmes. Very less amount is invested in technology â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with innovative technology one can build capabilities, run training programmes Technology can be extensively used to promote healthcare today, what we are doing is just a fraction of what we are capable of.

Where does rural India lack in adopting or implementing IT in healthcare? Adoption of IT facilities in healthcare is largely confined to the urban centres while the rural areas are still deprived of technology. Not too many IT providers reach out to the remote areas which consequences in low awareness levels and poor adoption of technology. There is no point in introducing a technology unless and until there is an entire ecosystem for people to be able to

Healthcare in India is more about sick care rather than preventive care, says Manoj Kumar

Trend Talk

use the technology, and training is again a major concern. In a study conducted by a research centre in Amritsar, it was found that in reputed hospitals only one nurse was competent out of 30 nurses to carry out nursing facility. Unless we tap right kind of talent which has the bent of mind towards technology we will not be able to use it. The availability of technology is very low where the majority of our population lives. Secondly, to whatever extent it is available to them, we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the ecosystem to use the technology effectively.

What is Ricohâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s assessment and strategy towards cloud computing in healthcare? Ricoh is dealing in PACS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Picasso which is one of the product and the other is Electronic Health Record (EHR). By using cloud services, in some of the states with their respective governments, we have carried out mission projects which pertain to digitisation of health records by creating a network to maintain store and retrieve healthcare data. One of the Ricoh Group of companies already has a product which is available in the space of telemedicine. Cloud technology is the name of the game. It makes technology affordable, provides real-time access to the data and helps you to take decisions faster. Besides, without cloud I cannot see technology being delivered to the users.

How do you see the role of big data analytics and its key advantages in the healthcare segment? Medical records, EHR and the healthcare trends and the data with respect to demographics, linking them with the health issues with people in different demographies, age group and lifestyles helps us

to move more towards preventive medicines. Therefore, I think the big data analytics plays an important role in preventive healthcare.

How can one assure the patients that their data is secured? Various facilities like virtual private networks, access control mechanisms and data security are in place to keep the data safe. There are lots of certifications which are available nowadays, where reputed agencies carry out all your audits in order to make sure that one is following the data with security

can make the entire healthcare ecosystem affordable for the needy.

How do you see the IT adoption in the government hospitals? I would not completely agree that it is only the private sector using technology, though they are ahead of the government sector. But, now the government hospitals also have started adopting technology in big way. They are trying to catch up as fast as they can. Of course this trend is seen in cities, but gradually this should transcend to the rural centres as well.

Healthcare is a focused vertical for Ricoh. We are working in promoting telemedicine and teleradiology in a big way. Using technology we can take hospitals to the door step of the patients norms. Once such a system is in place then there is no reason the patient should feel uncomfortable about the security of their data.

What can be done to make healthcare more affordable? Technology in the form of software, data archival, data storage, data retrieval makes it possible to provide affordable healthcare to the patients. We need to have standardised monitoring system on the functioning of the various healthcare sectors. There should be a regulatory body or mechanism which checks the cost a patient is incurring today on healthcare. We do not have social security benefits in this country, so, most of the citizens have to spend from their own pocket. As for healthcare insurance schemes like RSBY, ESI etc are good initiatives in this regard but a lot more needs to be done. Complimenting this with technology

What is the next big thing happening at RICOH in healthcare? Healthcare is a focused vertical for Ricoh. We have launched a unique software last year called DICOM which can be run on our printers through which you can print medical images on plain paper and not on the expensive HD film. I have already talked about Picasso. We have an in-house marketing team of healthcare specialists which keeps doing research in the healthcare market in India to bring out new innovative technology. At present, we are working in promoting telemedicine and teleradiology in a big way. Ricoh is hopeful about using technology and we feel that we can take hospitals to the door step of the patients. Telemedicine and teleradiology are other means through which we are going to make healthcare available to the citizens in the rural areas.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Spotlight

Technology to Transform Healthcare

Innovative technology and productive human resource can create a safe environment for patients at Aster Medcity, says Dr Harish Pillai, CEO, Aster Medcity & Cluster Head Kerela while speaking to Romiya Das of Elets News Network (ENN) Brief us about the presence and reach of Aster DM Healthcare? Presently Aster DM Healthcare is building a large chain in India. Our phase-1 focuses on south and western states. We hold three strong brands overseas â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Access which is primarily into clinics and pharmacy; Aster - a flagship brand which is into clinics, pharmacy and hospitals; and Medcare deals clinics and hospitals. Whereas in India we have two

strong brands â&#x20AC;&#x201C;The Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences (MIMS) in the north of Kerala and we are starting off with Aster Medcity. It is a good example of an Indian multinational healthcare company operating across eight countries. We have strong presence in UAE, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; also we have just entered the Philippines.

How do you see the adoption of IT by Indian Healthcare industry? Healthcare IT is gradually starting off from HIS, EMR. We have a lot of decision support systems which aids the clinicians to come to an accurate diagnosis. There are lots of peripheral devices when you talk about queue management aspects or pair mechanism and ecosystem of support services in the hospital like card-based services and many more. Beyond a hospital, many providers are leveraging their portals to be more interactive. You could have an interface with not just your own confidential EMR access to your lab information system (LIS) you We all in the private sector in could India need the right ecosystem, says Dr Harish Pillai be in

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touch with your primary physician. The new trend in the next 5-10 years will be the takeover of mobile devices and home-based care with big mobile players like Samsung and Apple have their strong presence we will find more Indians accessing quality healthcare using their personal devices that are going to increase multifold.

How do you realise the adoption of mHealth by patients? We are a young country, but we are also rapidly aging. Demographically south India is getting much older than north India. North India is very young and the northeast India is the youngest. So, for chronic disease management whether is its diabetes, hypertension etc., it is better to use mobile devices and reduce the frequency of actual encounters where you need go to see a doctor. There are many pilot projects where telehealth, as well as mobile devices, are in use currently in a lot of Indian hospitals and this trend will increase.

How flexible are our regulations for the healthcare companies? As healthcare being a state subject, different states of India will legislate in their own domain and look at how much of allocation from their state budget they will give to healthcare. Many states are competing with each other for better ranking. In that

Spotlight

matter states such as Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan are working well in the public health domain. A lot of changes are envisaged in central regulation to give specific focus to healthcare IT, mobile application, medical equipment and diagnostics.

India which is an irony for a country of our size and talent we should top the list. Nevertheless, we have started doing the right things and in the coming years India going to be one of the huge dominant players in the world.

How do you see the technological advancement shaping Indian healthcare system?

How is cloud computing aiding Aster’s healthcare services?

India is on the cutting edge when it comes to healthcare technology. We can do more in the area research and development. Typically, most of the hospitals in our country focus more on clinical excellence that is not how a good institution works. For a good institution need to have a fair balance of clinical excellence, academics and research, which is needed to retain the talent. We all in the private sector in India need the right ecosystem.

What is the status of medical tourism in India? There is an increase in the international patient inflow, but much more needs to be done. In the public space, I feel that the healthcare should be free at the point of care focusing on primary and secondary care while private sector involvement should be more in secondary and tertiary care. It is known that more than 85 per cent of healthcare in India is given by private sector and not by the public sector. But going forward I feel that cross-subsidisation is the key, if you don’t have equity in healthcare it will create social tension. The only way we can create equity and adequate pay for deserving healthcare workers is to bring in patients from outside who can pay more and that’s what most of the countries have done. It also contributes greatly towards attracting investments bringing in technology and generating foreign exchange for the economy. Asian countries like Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia gets more patients than

Cloud computing is a very costeffective way to store data. When you run a large network of hospitals as long as you can bring in security measures, all the data of the patients, whether it is EMR, PACS, LIS etc it can be stored in your own cloud. Aster DM Healthcare has an India cloud which is based out of a data cluster created physically in Kochi in Medcity and an international cloud data cluster is in Dubai for our overseas networks. Our plan is that any patient who encounters with an Aster network hospital will have a UHID which will enable the provider to access the patient’s data sitting in an exclusive cloud, and that’s the way forward.

Elaborate on the various technologies undertaken by Aster DM Healthcare? We commissioned a study by Frost & Sullivan which compared and benchmarked several hospitals in India. As per the study, Aster Medcity one of the most technologically advanced healthcare destination in India. All assortments of technology under one roof ranging from the Da Vinci surgical robot, we have just introduced ROWA – India’s first pharmacy robot. It is a project which we are doing to eliminate medication errors. For imaging we have the latest 3 Tesla MRI, 256 slice iCT for nuclear medicine, PET-CT, we have introduced country’s first Biplane Hybrid Vascular Cathlab, we have digital OT’s, we have totally integrated electronic medical record right from ambulatory care to inpatient on a web-based platform.

How does the ROWA works? The concept of the Pharma robot is that when you sit in a doctor’s consult room after your diagnosis is done the doctor makes your ePrescription. The ePriscription goes to the pharmacy database, the pharmacists asks you for the payment gateway (cash or insurance), once that validates the data goes to the robot. The robot is a large rectangular device it can access within nanoseconds and it is like a drug inventory. It has the robotic arms that will dispense the required drug to the patient in nanosecond eliminating the waiting time maintaining accuracy. We got pharmacy robot from Germany. There are many pharmacy robots in rest of the Asia. Countries like Japan, China, and Singapore they have a lot of robots in public as well as private hospitals. In India we will soon have several robots in leading hospitals. Aster Medcity gives a lot of importance to medication management. We are trying to leverage technology and human resources creating a safe environment for patients.

What are Aster DM Healthcare’s business plans for the coming years? We aim to be a 5000 bedded hospital chain in the next three years time. Our next launch is in Bangalore, where we are coming up with Aster CMI - a 500-bed hospital close to the international airport. We have a project in Hyderabad under the brand name of Prime. Maharashtra is a state of great interest to us, so we will expand there. We are also looking at more facilities in Karnataka. Therefore, we look for increasing our presence in all these southern and western states. While in northern and eastern states we would probably be opportunistic and if we find something interesting happening to fit into our business plan and strategy we would definitely go for it.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Tech Talk

Telemedicine: Metamorphosing Indian Healthcare Telemedicine market is an emerging sector in India. The healthcare shortage in rural areas and increasing size of the middle class proves to be a major boost to the telemedicine market informs Minhaj Zia, Managing Director, Polycom India & SAARC to Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) How important and huge is the telemedicine market and video conferencing in our country? In next five years how will the market shape up? India is having the key demographics and geography that can leverage the full benefits of video conferencing both in healthcare and the health science sectors. Large travel distances, traffic congestion and increasing pharmaceutical manufacturing provide an environment that can truly benefit from the use of this technology. Also, the doctor shortage in rural areas and increasing size of the middle class which will result in increased demand for services regardless of where people are located. The increasing size of the private healthcare sector is a key driver for growth. A report by Government of India, showcases that telemedicine is a fast emerging sector in India. In 2012, the telemedicine market in India was valued at US$ 7.5 million, and it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20 per cent to US$ 18.7 million by 2017. Incorporating technology like video into the delivery of healthcare services is critical in creating a positive healthcare future globally. For instance, services such as virtual consultations and remote monitoring, mentioned in participant responses, will enable healthcare accessible to almost everyone. This will be vital in tackling many of the challenges that will impact the industry over the coming years.

NOvember / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

In tele-presence and video conferencing, what is the USP of Polycom? Polycom’s USP is that it offers easyto-use, interoperable video solutions that are backwards - and forward compatible and deliver the best Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). We take a partner - centric approach to delivering the most complete video solutions— with the most flexible delivery options. We are not only propagating an open and interoperable platform that allows all vendors to work together for the benefit of enterprises, but also lowering the total cost of ownership for them by using up to 50 per cent less bandwidth. To expand the reach and ROI (return on investment) of video investment, Polycom provides the broadest support for industry standards and protocols, and forwardand backwards-compatibility with millions of systems. We also provide integration into popular UC platforms including Microsoft, IBM, HP, Cisco, Avaya, and Siemens.

In comparison to a tablet or smartphone, which is the most sought after module for video conferencing? India, like other countries can benefit from the advancement of video and voice solutions. Nowadays, many healthcare professionals carry the phone or tablet of their choice and this technology allows them to have secure connectivity on those devices.

Polycom’s USP is to offer easy to use, interoperable video solutions, says Minhaj Zia

Therefore, mobility is the key for a better healthcare today, to integrate Telehealth into the physicians’ everyday workflow. Polycom’s telemedicine solution allows clinicians to provide a high level interaction to provide patient care regardless of patient and clinician location. High definition video, along with our ecosystem of telemedicine providers allows organisations to provide diagnostic quality care from a distance. Also, the requirement for continual medical education conflicts with demand for care especially as requirements on medical knowledge is increasing every year. Polycom real time high definition video along with our video content management solutions allow healthcare professionals to receive education over real time video on

Tech Talk

any device, live streaming sessions or watch archived sessions at their own convenience. This flexibility and high level interaction is crucial in the dynamic and ever changing field of medicine. While benefiting from the telemedicine and medical education platform that Polycom provides, a healthcare organisation can also use it for administrative purposes. Moving information in the form of high definition video rather than people provides an efficient way to conduct business on a day-to-day basis.

How is Polycom RealPresence platform changing the dynamics of the video conferencing market in India particularly in the healthcare space? Polycom helps close distance barriers by connecting patients, practitioners, specialists, and case managers utilising collaborative standards-based video solutions for PCs and Tablets. Polycom connects the entire healthcare team so that they can communicate over video from anywhere to support patient centered care. One can grow very large telehealth networks with the Polycom RealPresence Platform which utilizes a standards based, scalable, open system approach. In addition to live point to point and multi-point video calls, it supports recording, archiving and web based video educational sessions for network members, and provides the resiliency

and reliability needed in large video network deployments.

Can you sketch details of your presence in the pharma sector, are you looking out to tapping SMBs, particularly any cloud computing technology used? SMB adoption continues to grow at a faster pace than other segments, and video conferencing vendors continue to target SMBs by creating products that are easy to install and use, as well as less expensive. SMBs live in a mobile, social, global world. The leading India-based Global Pharmaceutical Company, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories selected Polycom RealPresence Video Collaboration Solutions to Accelerate Drug Development and Time to Market. The company has selected Polycom immersive video collaboration solutions to enable executives and employees across two major corporate offices in Hyderabad, India, and Bridgewater, New Jersey, USA to collaborate face-to-face via secure, high-definition video. Hyderabad and Bridgewater, New Jersey corporate centres are fitted with document cameras to display samples of drugs and generics for real-time inspections with FDA officials, facilitate product reviews with co-workers, and sample showcases for buyers. Dr. Reddy’s also uses Polycom RealPresence® Mobile video solution to allow executives to join critical internal meetings from

Telehealth spreads friendly environment so doctors use different delivery models that benefit patients

anywhere while on the move

Polycom globally has a major chunk of healthcare clients. Your plans of expansion for the next fiscal? We now need to work with policy makers to develop a Telehealth friendly environment so doctors are incentivised to use different delivery models that benefit patients and the overall healthcare system. This is where we look to medical associations to establish by-laws and lead the way within their specific specialty group to validate the use of this technology that can provide services to populations across India that never had them before.

Tell us about some of the new directions that the technology is taking? One area we’re particularly focused on is Telehealth. With more people entering India’s middle class, we’ll have more demand for healthcare. Telehealth market share is estimated to be a fast emerging sector in India. India’s central government increased the budgeted allocation on the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from INR 275 billion in FY14 to INR 352 billion in FY15, which will increase expenditure on Health IT as private and public organisations look at efficient ways to overcome the challenges of providing healthcare. Healthcare organisations are under pressure globally. Aging populations, rising costs, large geographic distances and a shortage and mal-distribution of healthcare providers is forcing healthcare organisations to look at different way of providing care. Video has been proving as a way to increase efficiencies in patient care through telemedicine, medical education through live, streaming and archived video and for use in administrative applications that increase the efficiency of the organisation.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Spotlight

Radical Healthcare Innovation Prakash Kamat, Founder Chairman & MD, SoftLink International shares his journey and the growth of technology usage in the healthcare industry with Prathiba Raju of Elets News Network (ENN) How has IT in healthcare transformed over the years? Rapidly transforming approach to medical technology and the availability of advanced medical equipment together has changed the way doctors perceive it today and it has revolutionised the way health care is being delivered. However, it was far from this when SoftLink decided to foray into HealthCare IT and Medical Imaging fields in 1997. Then, the healthcare industry in India did not know that technology could ease their jobs and improve patient care. The simple question was asked by us ‘If we have a good cardiologist on board and advanced cardiac labs & equipment’s, why do we need to spend lakhs of rupees on IT or workflow automation?’ It was a task to convince them of the benefits and to make them leverage the technology for their own good.

What are the new products and solutions offered by you? We are a Software product company with a focus on HealthCare IT and medical imaging and have built a range of software products in Cardiology, Radiology and Hospital Automation. SoftLink builds a new release for each product generation every two to three years, thus keeping pace with customer expectations as well as technology evolutions. Currently, all the products and solutions of SoftLink in hospital automation Panacea Enterprise Suite – HIS, LIS, material management and asset management

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systems; HeartCare Plus – Cardiology Information System and HCP DICOM Net – a Cardiology Imaging Network; Imagine Enterprise Suite – Radiology Information System, Multi-modality PACS and WEB Viewing Solutions, are in fifth generation. Very recently we launched, Cloud based PACS and HIMS solutions, which are being deployed at hospitals in India.

What should be done to change the healthcare service delivery with the ICT intervention? The government needs to review its policy framework on purchase of IT hardware and software for healthcare. This could eventually reduce the healthcare cost and deliver care to patients efficiently reducing treatment cycles and boosting productivity. Government can also enforce hospital to comply and keep medical records through ICT, so as to have more transparency and accuracy. I think the initiative of ‘Digital India’ is a step in the right direction and highlights the vision of new Government.

What is the current revenue share of your overseas and domestic business? We are focusing on building products that conform to global standards and has been exporting them right from the second year of its inception. In terms of percentage share, our export revenue constitutes 60-65 per cent and domestic revenue is around 35-40 per cent. The differential is

primarily due to premium product pricing in overseas markets and due to higher costs of healthcare employees, resulting into higher level of automation in healthcare industry.

What are your future growth plans for the healthcare industry? SoftLink has been an innovator and early adopter of HealthCare IT technologies and has built product roadmap around it. Looking into the future, we feel that eventually HealthCare IT solutions must move to cloud platforms with due importance to security and confidentiality of EMR data. This will not only facilitate cost reduction but also allow faster and accurate diagnosis by expert doctors to lend their clinical diagnosis via access to cloud! Telemedicine is another area which holds immense potential to improve patient care in a geographical vast country like India where most of the medical experts are located in cities but patients are in far flung rural areas! At present telemedicine is “audio visual” consultation and a good starting point but eventually, it needs to translate to flow of clinical information from patient end to doctors and diagnosis from doctors end to patients after due review and analysis! Keep a watch as SoftLink as it will be releasing a telemedicine platform for cardiology very shortly. (For the complete interview, log on to: ehealth.eletsonline.com

Government Desk

Maharashtra Needs to Spend `78 bn in Healthcare by 2018

aharashtra needs to increase its spending over healthcare to `74 billion by 2018 to meet challenges in the key sector and rising cost of medical care, a research institute said. The state being second largest in terms of population with growing urbanisation there is a need to look at the growing healthcare costs, informed International Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR). The state where 45.2 per cent people reside in urban areas with an income of over `15,40,000 crore, the State Government has allocated a sum of `2,296 crore to the health sector in 2015-16.

“According to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) the average cost of hospitalisation in India has risen from `8851 to `24436. The average cost of hospitalisation in Maharashtra alone is `20,475 out of which 19.2 per cent people have been utilising the services of public hospitals and 80.8 per cent have been utilising the services of private hospitals. According to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the percentage distribution of Public Health Expenditure in Maharashtra alone is 8.70 per cent, the highest

after Uttar Pradesh,” said Dr Ashok K Agarwal, Dean, IIHMR-Delhi. Maharashtra’s health budget needs to be a little more ambitious to overcome the lack of public health and medical facilities and fill in skill gaps of huge vacancies in rural hospitals and other centres as well as PHCs, it said. The state should also look at investing in healthcare IT, which is expected increase by CAGR of 13.4 per cent during 2015 to 2020, IIHMR said.

Government Agrees to Transfer Blood From One Bank to Another

he Union Health Ministry allows transfer of blood from one blood bank to another, a move that will help the blood banks to suffice the scarcity and which would save more lives. Not just the blood bags but the Health Ministry has also fixed “non-cash” exchange value for surplus plasma available at some blood banks in the country, aiming to increase the availability of essential life-saving medicines. The Ministry in a statement said that the transfer of blood from one bank to the other was not allowed earlier. “The first step is permitting the transfer of blood from one blood bank to another. This was not allowed earlier and will help in transfer of blood to places of scarcity. Detailed guidelines for proper and efficient transport of blood between banks have been prescribed,” it said.

The Health Ministry said that the step is first of the two initiatives taken by it towards better utilisation of blood and blood components as part of its commitment to ensure safe blood and enhanced access to blood products. Both the steps were taken as per the recommendation of the National Blood Transfusion Council (NBTC), it said. “The second step is fixing of an exchange value for surplus plasma available at some blood banks in the country, it said. Elaborating on the step, the Ministry said that in the absence of the enabling provision, surplus plasma was traded or sold by the blood banks without any regulation earlier. “Now an exchange value of `1600 per litre of plasma has been fixed and the blood banks with surplus plasma can exchange it for consumables, equipments or plasma derived products as per their need,” it said. However, the Ministry added that this exchange cannot be in terms of cash. “This step is expected to increase the availability of essential lifesaving medicines like human albumin, immunoglobulins, clotting factors, etc which are all derived from plasma. This step would also reduce the country’s dependence on import of these products,” it said. The NBTC under the Ministry is the apex body for formulating policy matters pertaining to the organisation, operation, standards and training of a sustainable and safe blood transfusion service for the country and was set up under the directions of the Supreme Court.

novEMBER / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

International News

Siemens Mobile C-arms: A Step Towards Advanced Imaging

synergy of modern surgical techniques particularly the imaging improves patient survival has it improves the accuracy of the surgery itself, supporting this trend Siemens Healthcare has introduced a new series of Cios C-arm a group of imaging systems – the Cios Alpha and three additional models of the Cios C-arm family, which play a key role in the areas of orthopaedics and traumatology. The new family of C-arms comprising Cios Fusion, Cios Connect, Cios Select, and the premium Cios Alpha system will cover all customer requirements for mobile X-ray imaging. “Compact design and greater ease of use are common features of the entire C-arm family, as are a standardised user interface and high level of performance,” says Francois Nolte, Head Business Line X-Ray Products, summarizing the features of the Cios series. “The maximum possible X-ray time, an elevated heat capacity to prevent overheating, and a high current range offered by the X-ray tube all help ensure consistently high image quality during lengthy operations, such as heart surgeries lasting several hours,” he added. Cios Fusion: A Flat-Panel Detector Cios Fusion features state-of-the-art flat panel detector technology. I This produces an image that is free of geometrical distortion and offers a higher grayscale resolution, making various anatomical structures clearer to see. Cios Connect : Light Weight with Low Radiation Cios Connect covers a very broad area of application it offers

a highly reliable system with low service costs and it enable physicians to display individual images simultaneously in subtracted view and in X-ray view. Cios Select: Helps in Routine Clinical Use The entry-level model Cios Select would serve as a basic product to improve healthcare services by providing easier access to surgical imaging. Cios Alpha system: Making Transplants Easy Cios Alpha is a large preview image on the touchscreen makes it easier for OR staff to select the appropriate image settings.

Global BP Monitoring Device to Touch US$ 2 Bn by 2020

he global blood pressure monitoring devices market is expected to reach US$ 2.0 billion by 2022, a new

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report by Grand View Research, Inc indicated. Rising geriatric population prone to high blood pressure is widening triggering incidences of hypertension, which drive the demand for BP monitors in the future. Increasing awareness levels for personalised and portable devices for monitoring are the factors contributing towards the market growth, the report indicated. According to the report, the Asia-Pacific BP monitoring devices market is expected to grow rapid by with CAGR of 13.5 per cent. “The key factors attributing to its rapid growth include favorable government initiatives such as the government of India’s campaign “Make In India” which is intended to attract FDI and international players to invest in Indian market,” the report said.

International News

Scientists Design Early Cancer Screening Device

micro-device that could help doctors detect cancers in the small intestine at very early stages has been designed by researchers at the University of Cyprus, a university professor said. Julius Georgiou, who headed a team from the Holistic Electronics Research Laboratory at the university, said, ““The small intestine is largely inaccessible as opposed to the colon and by the time symptoms appear cancer has reached advanced stages and has most likely metastasised to other organs,” The pill-sized capsule is aimed at a low-cost small intestine cancer screening which could help increase the rate of survival. Cancerous

cells in the small intestine are not easy to detect. The capsule is designed to detect micro-cancers in the small intestine, thus enabling early detection and removal of cancerous cells. The capsule record infrared fluorescence levels attached to pre-cancerous cells as it traverses the small intestine and stores the data onboard until it is expelled

from the body. Data can be wirelessly downloaded for inspection by the physician. “The key advantage of infrared based markets is that the emitted wavelengths can be detected by the capsule even if they are located a few millimeters below the epithelium, where cancers start,” said Georgiou, an assistant professor at the department of electrical and computer engineering of the University of Cyprus. He added that a major advantage is the fact that the examination of light fluorescence data are simpler and less time consuming to read than image data.

New Radiation Therapy for Lung Cancer Treatment

new radiation therapy, which was in use to treat prostate, brain, and head and neck cancers, can reduce chemotherapy side effects when administered in those afflicted with lung cancer, a research has found. When patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) received intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), had less severe lung toxicity and were able to better tolerate their chemotherapy, compared to patients who received conventional radiation therapy, the findings showed. “IMRT was developed more than a decade ago it has been accepted to treat prostate, brain, and head and neck cancers,” said Stephen Chun from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Centre in the US. But “this the first analysis of a prospective clinical trial to show a reduction of toxicity associated with IMRT in locally advanced lung cancer and could lead to a major change in the way the radiation therapy is delivered for the disease”, said Chun who led the study. In contrast, IMRT is a newer, more-advanced technique that sculpts and molds radiation beams to tumour targets, using substantially more complex radiation beam arrangements than 3D-CRT. For decades, three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3-D CRT) has been the standard of care for the treatment of

lung cancer. The technique shapes radiation beams aimed in straight lines to match the shape of the tumour. In turn, IMRT can spare more normal tissue than 3D-CRT with high doses of radiation. This study is an analysis of data collected from a large, multicentre phase three randomised trial of patients with locally advanced NSCLC. In the study, 482 patients were treated with radiation – 53 per cent with IMRT and 47 per cent with 3-D CRT. The study found. The IMRT group showed better tolerance of chemotherapy than the 3-D CRT group.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Hospital News

Columbia Asia Announces Launch of Kidney Transplant Services

olumbia Asia Hospital in Gurgaon has announced the launch of its kidney transplant division to serve patients suffering from end-stage kidney ailments. The hospital has already performed kidney transplant surgeries on some foreign patients, of which, some of them very complex and high-risk procedures. During the official launch, a dedicated Kidney Transplant division doctors discussed the recent complex case of 19-year-old Bangladeshi girl who had multiple issues with the kidney, heart, and lung and had been refused a kidney transplant back home in Bangladesh as well as in several hospitals in India, given the threat to her life. The Complex Renal Transplant surgery was performed first time using retroperitonescopic donor nephrectomy in Delhi/NCR region. “Such was her condition that she was actually gasping for breath when we first attended to her. The multiple organ problems put her life at a high risk in the event of surgery. However, it was important to replace her failing

kidney, if we needed to give her hope of recovery. The young girl was admitted to the hospital and first treated for her heart and lung condition to stabilize her health. Once this was achieved, we decided to go ahead with the kidney transplant,” says Dr Mohit Khirbat, Consultant Nephrologist, Columbia Asia Hospital, Gurgaon. “In this procedure, the surgery is done from the back instead of the front. The advantages of this method are that it only touches the main organ which is the kidney, unlike the traditional laparoscopic method in which one has to enter the abdomen from the front and have gone through other organs to reach the kidney. The procedure is much safer than the conventional method and aesthetically better since the scarring is on the back. The safety and postoperative comfort of the donor are of utmost importance. The donor was able to move out of bed and was able to eat on the first day after surgery,” said Dr Sumit Sharma, Kidney Transplant Surgeon & Urologist.

(From L-R) : Dr Mohit Khirbat, Dr Sumit Sharma, Mr Mahipal S Bhanot, Dr Sunil Singh

Aravind Eye Care to Establish Eye Hospital in Tirupati

he Madurai-based Aravind Eye Care Hospital will be allotted with seven acres of land to set up a `100 crore eye hospital at Tirupati. The administration of the Lord Venkateswara hill shrine has announced in a monthly meeting of Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) to parovide the land in a prime locality. According to reports, TTD would collect `7 lakh as an annual rental charge or the land to be allotted to the eye hospital.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Company News

Airox Ties With Telelift for Medical logistics

irox Technologies Pvt Ltd ties up with Telelift a German Medical Logistics company the partnership is expected to augment the hospitals with modern logistics technology. Airox, which is known for introducing newer healthcare technologies in India had launched Airsep Oxygen Generator Systems in private hospital in India it has more than 150 customers across India. They have entered into agreement

and tied up with Telelift – Medical Logistics, for a fast and safe automated material transport. As per a statement, Telefift – Medical Logistic Solution can carry weight up

to 15 kg and is capable of transporting sterile goods, surgical instruments, drips, blood bags, pharmaceuticals, medical goods, intravenous medications, blood, and laboratory specimens. Telelift has more than 1300 installation across the globe can also manage medical records, documentation, morphine and other highly effective drugs, even cash as it has complete code locking system.

IIL sets up `250 cr facility in Hyderabad

Attune Software Technology Expands Beyond India

ndian Immunologicals Limited (IIL), a leading biologicals company in Hyderabad, has set up a new facility with an investment of `250 crore,a facility to be India’s largest producer of animal health formulations. The state-of-the-art facility at Karkapatla in Ranga Reddy district, which has commenced operations, will manufacture vaccines against infectious diseases of humans and animal health formulations catering to domestic as well as international markets.

Spread over 47 acres at Karkapatla is IIL’s second manufacturing unit in Hyderabad and will significantly expand the company’s manufacturing capabilities. The IIL had developed this facility considering the growing demand for the next 10 years for human vaccines and animal health formulations. The first phase of human vaccine facility has the capacity to produce eight million doses of human rabies vaccine. The animal health formulation facility is equipped to produce an estimated capacity of 300 million tablets, 100 million bolus, and 20 million vials of injectables. With the new addition, IIL has five manufacturing facilities at various locations. Its anti rabies production unit is located at Ooty, cattle feed unit at Rajkot, biological unit at Gachibowli, Hyderabad and serum manufacturing unit in New Zealand. “The facility will strengthen IIL’s position in the industry and will immensely increase our manufacturing capabilities. We are expecting this plant to play a key role in manufacturing top quality vaccines with the most recent German technology,” said deputy managing director K Anand Kumar.

ttune Technologies has got US$ 10 million Series B round from Qualcomm Ventures and returning investor Norwest Venture Partners. This is the first investment from Qualcomm Ventures’ Strategic Venture Fund in India, which was announced last month. Along with a US$ 6 million Series A that Attune Technologies raised in May from Norwest and angel funding, this brings the start-up’s total venture funding so far to US$ 17 million. “There is still plenty of room to grow in India, where Attune’s software currently handles 10 million patient records for 2,500 healthcare centers, but it also plans to launch soon in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa,” informed Founder Arvind Kumar. Attune was founded to give smaller organisations without IT departments an affordable alternative to traditional hospital management software, which is often costly to deploy and maintain. The company charges a fixed monthly fee for SaaS products tailored to hospitals, diagnostics labs, and clinics. “What the cloud and SaaS does is democratise a lot of software which was only available to large hospitals and labs before that could afford to pay a premium,” says Kumar. Besides scaling in India, Attune also plans to offer its products in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia in the Middle East; Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Mauritius in Africa; and Malaysia, India, and Vietnam in Southeast Asia.

november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Start-up

Enabling Affordable Healthcare There is a dire need for patients to meet the right healthcare provider to get proper treatment at affordable cost. HealthKonnect is such a platform that gives the patient an option for experts opinion, treatment plan & cost from multiple providers.

ealthKonnect is a unique healthcare platform for both patients and healthcare providers which offer eHealth & Global Healthcare services. The patient-centric organisation has its presence in India, Africa and Middle East countries. It helps patients to access and avail quality healthcare services at affordable cost from leading, international accredited hospitals and diagnostic labs. Empowering consumers with pricing transparency and significant saving to make informed choices about the healthcare services and treatments they are seeking. Imbibing latest

ICD-10 compliant, secure cloud based HIMS for hospitals, Poly/Single clinics & doctors. HealthKonnect helps consumers to easily find right healthcare provider based on the condition, treatment, cost and location. In order to keep the consumers informed about the availability of various drugs and the prices the company’s ‘HealthKonnect Drug’ provides drug information from database of nearly 100,000 drugs. Consumers can find everything about generic, branded, substitute drugs & their usage, side effects, and precautions. Its ‘HealthKonnect Diagnostics’ helps consumer to find and compare various diagnostic tests,

HealthKonnect provides access and quality healthcare services at affordable cost from leading, international accredited hospitals and diagnostic labs to patients

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“We want to take the healthcare to every possible corner of the world and provide affordable quality healthcare,” -Hemant Jatav, CEO & Founder, HealthKonnect packages and pricing. Hemant Jatav, CEO & Co-founder along with Arun Sahlam, CTO & Cofounder laid the foundation of the Mumbai based HealthKonnect in the year 2012. The idea was curated with a vision to enable affordable quality healthcare accessible & available globally. Both the Co-founders are IIT Madras alumni having 15 years of experience in their respective fields. Hemant Jatav holds an experience of working in Healthcare IT/Telecom Program/Product management & marketing in NOKIA, France Telecom, British Telecom across India, USA, Canada & Europe. While Arun Sahlam being serial entrepreneur having Cofounded India’ no. 1 automotive portal www.carwale.com. The venture is self funded for last three years but would seek funds for expanding their operations globally. The founders plan to expand their operations in multiple countries for a better care at affordable cost. For further information visit: www.healthkonnect.com

Product Launch

Philips Launches MobileDiagnost Opta P

hilip’s MobileDiagnost Opta is small, fast, and flexible, delivering quality diagnostic images on a managed budget. Based on decades of expertise and innovation, this powerful compact mobile digital X-ray system is designed for all-around performance and fast return on investment. It moves through crowded spaces in the OR, ER, ICU, and general wards with freedom and ease, bringing digital imaging right to the bedside. Optimised for a wide range of diagnostic capabilities, the system helps radiographers carry out a variety of examinations with ease. It has a telescopic arm which allows the system to cover even more applications as it enables free exams at off‐center position. Light in weight and more compact than motorised systems, MobileDiagnost Opta moves around challenging spaces in ORs, ERs, ICUs, and general wards with freedom and ease. Speed, power, performance, and affordability makes the product a good option for smaller clinics, hospital that require multiple mobile DR systems, or facilities looking for a single system to cover most application needs. This system uses a UNIQUE image processing for consistent diagnostic image quality. UNIQUE harmonizes contrast levels, highlights faint details, and adapts parameters to provide lots of detail and wide image dynamics, while still

maintaining a natural, artifact‐free appearance. Special built-in APR (anatomical programmed radiography) control helps achieve a high level of exposure accuracy by selecting filters based on anatomy and capturing quality images with effective dose management. In addition, to ease your move into digital radiography, we also offer a digital-ready analog configuration. The analog configuration can be easily upgraded to digital whenever you are ready.

Product Specification Collimator Type Rotation Double laser line for 1m SID Filters Filter select LED indication Brightness of LED for FOV Detector Type Scintillator Detector size Active area

Manual, with LED light field indicator +/- 120° Yes. Optional 1 mm Al + 0.1 mm Cu/1 mm Al + 0.2 mm Cu/2 mm Al/0 mm Al Yes >160 lux Digital tethered flat detector High Stability Scintillator 35 cm x 43 cm (approx. 14” x 17”) 34.3 cm x 42 cm (13.5” x 16.54”) 2304 x 2800 pixels 150 μm 14 bits 6m

Image matrix size Pixel size A/D conversion Cable length ElevaWorkspot Digital Hard disk 500 GB Image storage Typically 4,000 images Monitor 19” LCD color touch screen monitor (1280 x 1024) Yes UNIQUE multiresolution image processing Battery capacity 4200 mAh Matrix depth 14 bit/pixel Tube Type Rotating anode Generator Power 16 kW/32kW november / 2015 ehealth.eletsonline.com

Pharma Buzz

Sun Pharma Sees Potential in Punjab

Cipla to Sell Biomab Holding Stake

ipla has entered into an agreement to sell its entire 25 per cent stake in Biomad Holding Limited, Hong Kong to Biomab Brilliant LImited, British Virgin Islands which holds the remaining 75 per cent stake in BHL or a total consideration of US$ 25,775,000. Biomab Holding focusses on developing Biosimilars for the Chinese market. According to company statement, going forward the biological business will be consolidated under Cipla BioTec. Cipla BioTec will focus on research, development, manufacturing and marketing of Biosimilars, in the field of Cancer, auro-immune diseases, respiratory diseases and diabetes. Cipla is seeing some very good momentum in its Biotech programmes. “Through Cipla BioTech, we will focus on global product development with the aim of making biological therepies accessible and affordable to patients in need,” said Chandru Chawla, Cipla New Ventures Head.

n focus to bring Ranbaxy facilities to compliance, Sun Pharma sees immense opportunities for expanding its operations in Punjab. Addressing Investors Summit Dilip Shanghvi, MD, Sun Pharma while informed the company has aggressive plans to grow not only in India but globally. The company sees huge opportunities in expanding its manufacturing sector in Punjab. The new facility will be able to commercially exploit products for which company has made investments in the past. He further added that post the acquisition of Ranbaxy significant investments have been made in manufacturing in Punjab. The prime focus is to bring facilities of Ranbaxy back to compliance so that these investments start producing returns. Shanghvi also batted for investments in the state which creates employment and high quality jobs for the youth of country.

NIPER Develops a New Drug for Type II Diabetes

he National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Ahmedabad (NIPER-A), claims to have developed a new class of compounds for treatment of Type-II diabetes and also perfected the manufacturing process for it. Its director Kiran Kalia, informed that the chemical molecules developed by her institute was different from other drugs available in the market. The institute,has filed application seeking patent for it. “The drug was more efficient and cost effective than other drugs for diabetes available currently in the global market,” Kalia said. The institute was, however, yet to approach the pharma companies for its commercial manufacturing and sale in the market. The institute is also focussing on developing new drugs against tuberculosis and resistant TB strains, claimed that NIPER-A had developed as many as eight molecules exhibiting potent activity against Rifampicinresistant strain of tuberculosis. The institute conducts MS(Pharma) and doctoral

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courses. So far, a total of 284 students have passed out from the institute and 92 are currently studying for different postgraduate courses. A total of 15 students have enrolled for PhD programmes. The institute, which is among seven national institutes set up in 2007 by the central government for post graduate teaching and research in pharma, is currently operating from MB Institute of Mental Health in Ahmedabad.