Energizing Healthcare Ecosystem through Technology And Innovation: Panelists

Priyanka Aggarwal, Partner & director, BCG (Chair), the moderator of the session, started the discussion by mentioning that how early detection in any of the healthcare issue is the need of the hour.

Another panellist, Dr. Anoop Amarnath, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Chief of Clinical Services, Manipal Hospital, however, differentiated medical services into three broad categories (i.e. Level 3 in hospitals- who are in ICUs, level 2 – who are domicile in hospital, OPD- level 1. He said that his organization, through technology, plays a vital role in monitoring the patient’s condition in all 3 levels.

Next panellist, Sunil Thakur, Managing Director, Quadria Capital said that his company looks at the healthcare services where companies are working in the services like early stage detection and believed that simple frugal innovation will come very useful to counter any epidemics. 

Rohit M.A., Co-founder & MD, Cloudnine Healthcare said that his organization works on the data of the patients and the doctors which come useful for the potential patients who may have access to the past records. 

Bhavik Kumar, Founder & CEO, Medibox Dig. Solutions, however said that, 30% of Indians don’t have an access to basic medicines. Whereas Cosmetic products have reached in rural areas but not all requisite medicines. He also pointed out that Healthcare is not growing at grass root levels because that is a place where start-ups need to go and work. 

Vishal Ranjan, Group Head-New Businesses, Virinchi Ltd. said that we need to reach to the masses through different models. IT companies must work in tandem with medical agencies so that a better eco-system for patients can be created. Dr. Vidur Mahajan, Associate Director, Mahajan Imaging said that there are 3 stages involved in this process where 1st stage is Pre-clinical, 2nd part is clinical where a better diagnosis is expected and, post- clinical- it is dealing with the analysis etc. 

Dr. Geetha Manjunath, Chief Executive Officer, Niramai Health Analytix said that due to Breast cancer in India, 75000 women die every year, it is curable unless detected at a late stage. She said that the accuracy of our machines is questionable and very few Tier II cities in India have a technology to conduct mammography. 

Rahul Pathri, Founder & CEO, Docturnal said that with TB earlier there was a social stigma attached but now people are going for treatment. With the advent of AI-led machines, tests have often become easier. Mr. Ashish Chandra, Co-Founder & CEO Truecover said that technology can reduce the cost and we are in the business of creating awareness for customers about different medications, insurance policies etc.