IoT may improve healthcare in India

India is a disparate country with regards to healthcare, Internet and transportation still undergoing a huge overhaul. The patient to bed ratio is dismal in the country and our healthcare providers do not have the required skills to treat, monitor and diagnose preliminary healthcare needs in rural locations. World Bank data reveals that the number of hospital beds per thousand people in India is much lower than the world average.

However, there has been a spurt in medical tourism with an influx of foreigners flocking to the healthcare facilities provided in New Delhi and Kolkata (with citizens of Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan and Nepal making India a hub for healthcare tourism).
One primary reason being the convenience and affordability provided by the country’s bigger hospitals and nursing homes. The dichotomy is difficult to miss when there aren’t enough beds for our sick.

According to a report by the research analyst firm Gartner, healthcare providers in India are expected to spend $120 crore on IT products and services in 2016, an increase of 3.4% over 2015. This in turn means that healthcare services, hospitals and emergency response services will deploy more IT, data centres, devices and telecom services to upgrade their existing services.

With the upgrade to Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, quicker decisions can be made in real time as data and analytics can be made easily available and pro-active steps can be taken by the medical practitioners to respond to emergency situations. As integration to the smart devices happen globally, millions of people will be connected in a manner we couldn’t have imagined five years ago.

The field of technology has undergone such a rapid transformation that it is almost impossible to think of a world without smartphones and smart computers. The idea of ‘smart’ technology has revolutionised every industry and has improved the standard of living in most counts.

Healthcare industry, which is one of the newest industries to have joined the IoT revolution, has also started integrating with technology. The IoT will help track essential patient information — be it tracking one’s diabetes or filing past health data for doctors to review automatically or even a simple check on blood pressure or body weight. Simply put, consumers now have the power to track their heath in a more personalised manner.
The IoT is expected to have long-lasting results on the quality of healthcare services provided in India with a wide reach in the country’s hinterland. India is at an advantage as upgrades to IoT will be easier, as there were hardly any investments made in this sector.

National priority
Moreover, healthcare is a national priority and an upgrade to IoT will help eliminating the long process of waiting in queues, unsafe devices and procedures and redundant practices. With more services being connected, traditional applications will give way to new and improved data management tools equipping patients and doctors with comprehensive data that could benefit both parties.

If we compare the Indian healthcare system with one of its neighbours, Thailand, we can see that the latter has more success stories. Both the countries have similar economic and demographic patters even though Thailand witnessed a huge macroeconomic growth in healthcare, tourism and education.

The Thai government had initiated a universal health coverage that covers more than 70 crore of the population and implementation of the cigarette tax which expanded the funding space, improved health and cut demand. The money earned was used for safe health practices and prevention of diseases. India now needs investments in data, cloud and analytical tools to help improve the situations.

To be at par with the West, India needs to adopt to the needs of faster solutions to healthcare problems without disrupting the lifestyle of the patients and confining them to hospital beds.

But a wise man had once said that no new invention comes without a few risks of their own. Likewise, the implementation of IoT technologies will raise concern around data privacy and security. With the advancement in technology increases the risk of vulnerability to hackers.

(The writer is Managing Director, Hannover Milano Fairs India)