CIOInsider India Magazine

The healthcare sector is changing enormously and even more so in 2021, with the arise of new health crises. The incidents over the last almost two years of the pandemic has cemented the need for being proactive when it comes to healthcare and detecting diseases at early phases to prevent from it becoming more dangerous and complex to handle. Today, the blend of technology in health care results in time saving accurate diagnosis, leading to treatment on time. As of now, the latest healthcare tech trends are online medicine, telehealth services, virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. According to the 2021 Future of Healthcare Report, nearly 80 percent of health care systems are planning to increase their investment in these digital healthcare trends over the next five years. High demand for personalized medicine and growing pressure to cut down on healthcare costs is the significant factors that directly impact these obvious measures. Present health crisis has had an incredible impact on healthcare digitalization, and it is expected that more healthcare workers will lean towards these technologies in the upcoming years.

Big Data in Health Care Sector
A blend of big data and analytics in healthcare results in positive and lifesaving outcomes. Now we live longer, as the treatment models have been changed, and the changed activities are mostly is driven by big data. Indeed, for years, gathering huge amount of medical data has been costly and time consuming. Big data in medicine helps to convert healthcare information into critical insights which enable to provide better care. It’s no wonder Big data is transforming healthcare as we know it today. The biggest medical systems in the future are going to use devices that will not only monitor patients’ well-being, but also help medical experts in provide high-quality care to patients. One of the biggest hurdles standing in the way of big data in medicine is the way medical data is spread across states, hospitals and administrative departments, especially in a populous country like India. Integration of these data sources requires a developed infrastructure to collaborate.

Internet of Things
In population graph, India is placed second at present, and accounts for 20 percent of the global disease burden with a high infant mortality rate of 40 deaths per 1,000 live births and maternal mortality rate of 174 deaths per 1 lakh live births. The intervention of IoT in healthcare sector significantly helps in mitigating this predicament by enabling constant tracking of health conditions. This has a major impact on people living alone and their families. On any disturbance or changes in the routine activities of a person, alert mechanism built up on various health monitoring sensors and powered by IoT sends signals to family members and concerned health professionals. We are not just talking about severe medical conditions, but overall healthcare and healthy living at large. For example, Beddit, a product of Apple, possesses great measures to improve sleep quality with a connected sleep monitor that tracks breathing, heart rate, snoring and sleep environment, and then analyzes the collected data to regulate the best sequence of action for a better slumbering experience.

Artificial Intelligence in Health Care Sector
AI today plays a vital role in healthcare when it comes to identification of cause and diagnosis as well as treatments. There are lots of health and pharmacy companies currently leveraging AI to help with drug discovery and improve the treatment’s lengthy cycles and processes, as well as discovering and taking drugs all the way to market. As we look out for present crisis in healthcare sector, it is quite an established fact that there are more complex health conditions which need to be diagnosed at an early stage to ensure an effective treatment. AI can help doctors improve the accuracy and outcomes significantly. Fewer errors, more pinpoint therapies, earlier and better diagnosis, and improved outcomes from procedures are remedial news for doctors and patients. Let’s look at an example. Thermal tumor ablation is a minimally disturbing and promising cancer treatment. Still, it presents one main drawback preventing it from becoming a first line treatment that physicians cannot visualize and control tissue damage in real-time. Solving this, Lenovo’s new inventions give medical professionals the ability to see what was once hidden from their view. With continuous monitoring and analysis throughout the procedure, the Bio Trace helps doctors maximize target tissue ablation while minimizing damage to healthy tissues. Plus, it dramatically reduces suffering and costs up to ten times when compared to radiation or chemotherapy.

Virtual Reality in Medicine
It’s been quite some time since Medical Professionals realized VR to be good for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. The studies suggest that a blend of VR with medication could result in better healthcare outcomes. Furthermore, VR positively influences surgical methods, starting right from looking into the structures of the organs and studying them. Recently, the St. Joseph’s Children Hospital in Tampa is using VR technology powered simulations to create virtual models of a patient’s anatomy. These 360 degree models are generated using CT and MRI images and provide pediatric surgeons with a detailed planning tool. VR surely also helps people residing in remote areas or who are far away from getting into healthcare facilities.

Cloud Labs
In the aftermath of the pandemic, self-contained, IoT-enabled, telemedicine-ready Cloud Labs proved to be a great assist towards the efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic across the country. In India, Hewlett Packard Enterprise has launched four of these labs and OPD centers to make quickly and clean testing as well as reduce the stress on the healthcare infrastructure. This initiative is most likely to grow and expand with wide recognition and more importantly in saving lives.

On the occasion, Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said, “COVID -19 has thrown unprecedented challenges for the world and industries alike and we must actively implement various measures to help contain the virus. NASSCOM is working with the IT industry in formulating innovative solutions to combat the pandemic. Cloud-enabled HPE COVID-19 Test Labs and OPDs will enable authorities to refine their testing process and will significantly reduce the strain on existing healthcare facilities. We are confident that together we will be able to overcome this phase and emerge stronger post the crisis.”

However, even though technology has lifted us to advanced treatment methods for diagnosis and treatment, it often fails to defeat some deadly diseases. More research on adoption of new technologies to safeguard the lives is definitely the right way forward.