Biology, Bytes and Bandwidth Are Transforming The Health Care Scenario: Sangita Reddy, Joint MD, Apollo Hospitals

While the other sector upscales their technology game, pioneers of the Health sector did not forget to explore and integrate the same. After which, technology has always aided in the advancement of this area to provide better medical and healthcare services to the people.  

During a conversation with BW Healthcareworld, Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals explained the evolving role of technology in healthcare and how Apollo hospitals are betting big on technology for patient care.  

Being one of the biggest private players, Apollo hospitals have been serving people with aced healthcare facilities for the past 25 years. In the era of technology, Reddy believes that healthcare is getting transformed by the idea of 3 B’s - Biology, Bytes and Bandwidth.  

She said, “Biology has made us understand the importance of personalized medicine and targeted therapies post genome’s decipherment.” With reduced computing capacity and cost, the data in healthcare has helped to translate the machines faster with insight from pictures and more merged virtual reality. She also adds, “The ability to design and create new solutions is greatly enhanced because of computing and processing the data.”  

Bandwidth, another aspect that is boosting healthcare through technology, has bridged the gap between the accessible health services in rural areas of the country. Reddy also spoke about the similar initiative by Apollo in collaboration with DXC technology creating the care circle among the doctors, nurses, rural Asha workers and the family members. 

“In Apollo, we have paperless health record of around 8.5 million people. It helps in sharing the data in a proactive manner for analysis of the patient,” said Sangita. Using Artificial Intelligence, Apollo has created a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS), where the doctor puts in the information of the patients to facilitate the standard of care. 

With highly qualified doctors and other supporting staff, Apollo has started with first-ever cancer-treating proton therapy centre in India. 

Apollo Hospitals Hyderabad is also coming up with their 8th International Patient Safety Conference 2019 on 13th & 14th September. The conference will begin a day before with four advanced workshops and followed by masterclasses by some eminent names in the health sector. The conference highlights the theme of “Imagine, Innovate, Inspire” to provide an opportunity to share views, exchange knowledge and establish research collaborations. It will be focusing on the issues like defining a strategy for patient safety improvement and Imparting technical knowledge on various patient safety areas. The event is supported by various knowledge partners including National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH), Joint Commission International (JCI), World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), the APAC Forum, World Health Organization (WHO), and Imperial College London.