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The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the adoption of hi tech in healthcare with telemedicine and remote monitoring being used extensively. While telemedicine has been in vogue in India for the past several years, it was the National Telemedicine Guidelines in 2020 that enabled the healthcare providers (HCPs) to have a clear workflow for online practice, data security and e-prescription.
Telemedicine has become mainstream and made easily accessible through the hospital channels like website and mobile apps which is a huge leap forward. While this platform frees up time for the HCPs to treat new patients, all non-critical follow ups, second opinions, report reviews, repeat medical prescriptions can be addressed online. However, telemedicine is never a replacement for physical visits but enables continuity of care anywhere, stated Pramod Kutty, CEO and co-founder, Connect2MyDoctor.
The support from the Union government for telemedicine has restored faith in the clinical care delivery mechanism via digital media: video, voice and chat. HCPs can cater to more patients as medical attention is a click away. For technology companies like ours, initiatives like these will help bring into the ecosystem newer modes for care delivery, he added.
While the start has been slow, the progress that India has made in the last 2 years has been commendable going by the sheer volume and complexity of the country’s medical system. The NDHM, ABHA – Health IDs, eSanjeevani project etc. and particularly the national telemedicine guidelines also have been used as a reference for many countries to develop their regulations, Kutty told Pharmabiz in an email.
The infrastructure too has seen a transformation from the demos using dongles with less that 1Mbps data speeds to 3G available only in Tier 1 cities. But now with Jio and heavy data adoption, all the telcos have upped their game enabling 3G everywhere. Access to 4G and even 5G is gearing for its launch this year, along with the government’s efforts to enable internet access, there can only be an upward trajectory from here, he said.
Currently HCPs are thinking beyond standard video consultation and moving towards augmented reality (AR) for patient education, continuous care, data collection from medical devices, remote monitoring, and smart alerts from qualified nurses being part of virtual tumour boards. There is also bedside care, connectivity from primary health centres, speech to text for adding information into the prescription and clinical notes. Without doubt, the next 10 years of telemedicine will be far ahead of the previous 10 years, noted Kutty.
Healthcare is one of the most sought after for the PEs and VCs. Pandemic has brought sharp focus on to healthcare solutions, modern tech equipment and virtual care, attracting even more attention from investors.
While there are hiccups in implementation that include infrastructure, regulations, acceptance of e-prescriptions, we see challenges are being addressed and are very positive as we move ahead. Connect2MyDoctor was bootstrapped in 2016 with $200K and since 2019 has raised $500K from institutional and private investors. It was incubated into the most reputed Medical Accelerator in Australia: MedTech Actuator and received investment from Artesian. Its in talks in the Series A round. It is now working on AI based speech to text (NLP) for clinical notes, AR patient education, Visual AI for patient’s recovery/rehabilitation, remote patient monitoring using connected devices.
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