INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Removing Frictions through Healthcare Digitalisation India has a great potential to emerge as a digital health leader post COVID-19. This article discusses the opportunities of empowering India’s healthcare workforce with the right technologies in both clinical practice and research to accelerate healthcare digitalisation. Jan Herzhoff, President, Global Health Markets, Elsevier
translational research. India aims to accelerate innovation and ideas from across the world to rapidly customise and build a sustainable healthcare ecosystem with comprehensive healthcare framework, institutions, and policies. With the successful launch of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) in August 2020, India has already laid the foundation for a digital health ecosystem. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed several healthcare challenges on this journey, such as information asymmetry between the doctor and the patient, high variability of healthcare expenditures, and inconsistent access to healthcare services across regions. It has now become a core priority for nations to address these healthcare challenges to mitigate both the social impact as well as the economic consequences following the pandemic. Standardising the quality of healthcare with knowledgeempowered technology
I
t has been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started. India faced exceptional challenges – the healthcare system has been stress tested by the high patient volumes and the infrastructural inefficiencies.
44
A SI A N H O S P I T A L & H EA LT HCAR E M A N AGE M E N T
More importantly, it has brought about a transformation in healthcare delivery via the power of digital health technologies to address these gaps. Digital health is key for clinical practice, medical education, and
IS S UE - 51, 2021
The healthcare industry is largely built on knowledge. Transforming the delivery of knowledge through digitalisation is key to truly enhancing the healthcare system of a country. The launch of the NDHM has ushered in a new era of technology-enabled healthcare delivery. Digital solutions are now used for proactive health screening and telemedicine, which has been integrated with statewide health
