Mount Sinai Partners With MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital To Transform Health-care Delivery In India

M S Ramaiah Memorial Hospital has entered a 10-year partnership with Mount Sinai Hospitals in New York, with the goal of transforming healthcare delivery in India. This collaboration aims to focus on integrating cutting-edge technologies and establishing Centres of Excellence across various specialities.

David L Reich, President of Mount Sinai Hospitals and Mount Sinai Queens, in an exclusive conversation with Harbinder Narula, CEO, BW Healthcare World, talks about how collaboration with MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital is going to redefine the healthcare delivery in India.  

What are the key reasons Mount Sinai Hospital chose to partner with Ramaiah Memorial Hospital, and what kind of outcomes are you expecting out of this particular relationship?

The primary goal of this partnership is to improve the safety and quality in healthcare through mutual sharing of information and protocols. Mount Sinai is interested in the diverse population and unique disease profiles at Ramaiah, which include tropical diseases not prevalent in the U S. This diversity offers valuable data for medical research and growth. Additionally, Ramaiah’s high rate of cadaver donations for research presents an opportunity to advance medical knowledge collaboratively.

What are the broader implications of this partnership for patients, for the students and the medical community associated with Mount Sinai Hospital?

The partnership aims to enhance patient care, benefit medical students, and advance the medical community associated with Mount Sinai. By integrating data analysis and technology, such as genetic analyses, the collaboration is expected to advance medical practices and improve healthcare outcomes. There is a focus on extending healthcare to broader populations, leveraging India's large data sets and technological advancements. Joint educational programs will begin with exchanging information and gradually involve more detailed data sharing and collaborative learning.

What is your vision of what can India benefit from with the use of technology to its benefit?

Given India's vast and diverse population, technology could bridge gaps in healthcare delivery, particularly in underserved areas. The collaboration is expected to develop tools that enhance healthcare accessibility for all socioeconomic levels, which will promote equitable care.

The partnership is still in its early stages, with financial strategies yet to be fully defined. Initial efforts focus on fostering information exchange and collaboration rather than financial arrangements. The conversation also touches on sustainable healthcare practices, emphasising the importance of focusing on population health and delivering care cost-effectively, aligning with the shared vision of both institutions.

What joint education programs or initiatives do you plan to introduce to benefit the medical students and professionals here at Ramaiah?

The collaboration aims to how Mount Sinai can learn from India's healthcare system, particularly regarding managing tropical diseases and using donated tissue for research. The exchange of best practices between the two regions aims to advance medical knowledge and improve practices on both sides.

Are there any practices that you think you can benefit from understanding how it is done in India? Is there something that you can derive from the Indian market as a best practice  

Well, I think it goes back to what I said earlier, with the tremendous access here to patients let's say, tropical diseases that don't exist in the same numbers in the U S, the access to donated tissue for the studies, I think it's an opportunity for all of us to discover. And when we discover, I think we're all happy, because that's why we went into medicine is to continually move medicine in the right direction.  

How can technology impact the way institutions address the three key challenges in India's healthcare: access, quality, and affordability, particularly given the disparity in healthcare delivery between urban and rural areas? Do you think technology can impact the way institutions are run from a business point of view to address the issues?  

When patients can move outside the hospital, often facilitated electronically, the potential arises to enhance communication. Since nearly everyone has a phone or access to an internet-enabled device, we now have the ability to extend this information and level of care to areas that previously lacked access. Examples from Mount Sinai demonstrate early efforts to regulate and ethically manage AI implementations.  In the US, we struggle as well to make sure we deliver care in the community because we have many poor communities that have bad access. So the triple aim that you were referring to is something which is very well described in the US as well and I think that is exactly the way it must play out.

How can India learn from the West's experience in developing pain management in anesthesiology, especially given the initial resistance from traditional doctors who saw it as a threat to their surgical business?

Noting the challenges faced in India due to traditional resistance. Overcoming territorialism in healthcare delivery is crucial for patient benefit and advocates for integrating various specialities to enhance care. So, I think we must rise above that both the countries like India and South Asia and in the West should focus on doing the right thing.  

How is AI going to help better decision-making for the doctor?

We often as humans have cognitive biases and AI has in the large language models, we call them hallucinations. The goal is to use AI to support better clinical choices and minimise mistakes. In the predictive models we just call them errors or mistakes or inaccuracies and we all have to be better with our technology so that we limit the propensity to cause harm.