In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity – Albert Einstein

While it wouldn’t be prudent to gloat over an opportunity in current circumstances, there is no denying the fact that the ongoing pandemic has thrown businesses in a disarray. While some have come to a grinding halt and are slowly trying to navigate the new normal, for some others, this is a watershed moment. Healthcare Technology is one of them.

The Genesis of Telemedicine in India

India is a large and densely populated nation, with equitable distribution of healthcare services being a major challenge in public health management. India’s pilot project in 2001 led by ISRO where Chennai’s Apollo Hospital was linked to Andhra Pradesh’s Aragonda district in Chittoor. Similar efforts were supported by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (the erstwhile Department of Information Technology), Ministry of Family Health & Welfare & Ministry of External Affairs. In order to facilitate easy access to relevant public health data, the Ministry of Health has handled projects like the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project, National Cancer Network, National Rural Telemedicine Network, National Medical College Network and the Digital Medical Library Network.

Over the years, the government has actively worked on setting up a National Telemedicine Task Force, and collaborated on international projects. Several major private players have been involved in telemedicine projects like Apollo Group, Narayana Hrudayalaya and Asia Heart Foundation to name a few. With the proliferation of technology, telemedicine offerings have matured in India, ably supported by a raft of new technologies like AI. They are especially relevant in the fields of large scale diagnostic screening and in disaster management – the latter which is very relevant now.

Telemedicine In The Time Of COVID19

Ever since cases began spiking in China, there was a wave of worry across the world as the medical community was confounded by the novel nature of this virus, as well as its potency. It became clear that no country was prepared for the scale of havoc this disease was causing, especially densely populated countries like India, which don’t have a robust enough healthcare system to support its ever growing population.

If anything, this was the time to rapidly galvanise the collective potential of technologies like AI, IoT, VR/AR and analytics to ensure continuum of care.

In a welcome departure from bureaucratic red-tape, and in the greater interest of public good, a set of guidelines for telemedicine or remote delivery of medical services have been issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in collaboration with NITI Aayog and Board of Governors Medical Council of India. These guidelines were expedited due to the COVID19 situation, and could greatly help India’s frontline medical workers.

However, India’s healthcare startups were already raring to go with a suite of solutions to combat the various challenges posed by COVID19. Some of the most popular, in-demand solutions are GPS-based contact tracing, AI for teleconsultation, identifying and surveillance of COVID19 cases, thermal imaging for temperature checks – all in adherence to the enforced norms of social distancing and self-isolation.

Despite limited to no human contact, the world has never been more connected.

Startups Pull Out All Stops In Fight Against COVID19

Gurugram-based DronaMaps is one of the few companies in the field of geospatial analytics and have used their expertise to develop a live dashboard of COVID19 patients and their activities for the police authorities in the states of Punjab and Haryana. Qure.ai is working with Italy’s San Rafaelle Hospital to analyse chest X-rays using AI to detect anomalies – a model they perfected with scans of TB patients in India, and made modifications accordingly. They have also developed a self-check feature for symptoms, in a bid to limit the number of patients overloading physicians. Bangalore-based medical consultation app mFine has partnered with a number of hospitals in Hyderabad and Bangalore to facilitate expert teleconsultation with low-risk patients, and direct the high-risk ones to hospitals and authorities for immediate treatment. The AI is well trained on thousands of datasets to understand typical symptoms and direct patients to doctors, all while in the comfort of one’s home. Gurugram-based AI and analytics-based surveillance company Staqu is working with law enforcement authorities to issue and verify Curfew ePasses and facilitate thermal imaging scanning aided by analytics of PPE gear for healthcare workers. Germany-based Innoplexus AG (cofounded by Indians) has claimed that its AI-enabled drug discovery platform led to the discovery that using a combination of drugs like Chloroquine with Pegasys/Remdesivir/ Tocilizumab/Clarithromycin works effectively to counter the effects of the COVID19 virus.

Enterprises Leverage AI To Accelerate Genome Sequencing, Medical Modelling & Drug Discovery

Enterprises are not too far behind on leveraging AI in the fight against COVID19 and supplement telemedicine efforts. Companies like NVIDIA, Alibaba Cloud and IBM are offering their cloud, content delivery and computing capabilities to researchers, scientists and doctors. These capabilities are highly futuristic, as such companies can not only provide technological support but can also utilize their vastly influential networks to lobby for faster clinical trials, vaccine trials and exploratory tests. UK-based pharma major GlaxoSmithKline has collaborated with Vir Biotechnology to use CRISPR & Artificial Intelligence to identify anti-viral compounds that can treat COVID19. Chinese AI companies like Baidu and Alibaba are in a unique position to aid the fight against COVID19 given that China was where the outbreak began before spreading to the world, and have firsthand knowledge of the virus and its impact on healthcare systems and more. Alibaba is offering its DingTalk platform to facilitate conversations and exchanges between doctors in China with those in other parts of the world on best practices that could combat the virus. The company also created an AI-based solution that can detect COVID19 infections with 96% accuracy.

Aarogya Setu – The GoI-Endorsed COVID19 App That Uses Data Science

The Indian government isn’t too far behind on leveraging AI and related technologies to fight COVID19. The Aarogya Setu app was launched earlier this month and already has 10 million+ downloads by the Government of India, and endorsed as the must-have app for COVID19 related updates. It uses Bluetooth, contact number and location tracking. The app functions on the premise if two or more users are within each other’s Bluetooth range, then they are close enough to infect one another. The Bluetooth functionality allows for exchange information on contact data alone – something that is critical knowledge if a user is infected. In this case, the app can gather information on all the people the user could have been in contact with, and send it to the health ministry to be tested on priority. Users are encouraged to keep checking the app for updates and alerts.

National Digital Health Blueprint: An Integrated Approach To Healthcare

The journey of digitizing healthcare that began in the late 90s has evolved by leaps and bounds over time. Today, digitizing healthcare is a high priority for the government, and the introduction of a National Digital Health Blueprint is a step in that direction. The NDHB proposes a federated architecture that links the public and private healthcare sectors to the primary, secondary and tertiary domains, supported by robust connectivity, digital healthcare centres and trained professionals. While the NDHB aims to have this completed by 2030, it does make one wonder how much better India would be able to manage a pandemic like coronavirus had this structure already been ready? Currently, all the above efforts are taking place in silos by virtue of the structure, and structural disparity is glaringly evident.

Policy building in healthcare should be aligned with the development of the AI policy structure in India. The synergy of AI & healthcare is there for everyone to see and endorse, but integrating these two factions is crucial now more than ever for a healthier, safer India. 

Image Source: Wallpaper Flare