India fought an unprecedented battle to overcome the systemic challenges induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. From expanding the healthcare infrastructure both physically and digitally to establishment of more and more AIIMS in the country at an unbelievable pace to achieving remarkable feats with the rollout of Vaccine Maitri Initiative and attaining the status of being called the ‘Pharmacy of the World’, India has emerged as the ‘Vaidya’ of the World, the knower of Health Sciences. Providing quality healthcare services to citizens during Covid was the central goal of the Indian government along with a focus on capacity building, which further helped New India to strengthen the healthcare sector in various domains.
Digital Health is one such area, where India is building strongholds to stand prepared for any future crisis. Today, the country’s healthcare is being imbibed with facilities like telemedicine and innovative methodologies that not only benefit patients but ease up service delivery for the pharma sector. India started e-Sanjeevani, a first-of-its-kind telemedicine initiative by any country during the covid pandemic, that has revolutionised the teleconsultation structure for all across the country. The success of this platform’s robust technology speaks for itself. In April 2022, the country achieved the milestone of a record 3.5 lakhs tele-consultations on a single day! Teleconsultation is possibly the future of India’s health systems, the concrete path towards establishing it has already been laid through Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres that extend e-Sanjeevani services and facilitate a perfect platform to provide health services to the last mile.
India’s Unified Health Interface provides for an open network designed to enable interoperable digital health service delivery. Last year, PM Modi announced the roll-out of Digital Health IDs under the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission ( ABHA) which came out as another push towards building the Digital Health ecosystem of the country. Under this mission, 21.6 crore ABHA health IDs have been created and more than 26,000 health facilities have been connected so far.
Digital health innovations are being endorsed like never before as they assist in saving time, boosting accuracy and efficiency. With Artificial Intelligence, India is combining technologies in ways that are new to healthcare. NIRAMAI a startup based in Bengaluru designed an AI-Based screening device that can detect breast cancer at a much earlier stage than traditional methods or self-examination. Indian startups like these have put the nation on the world map of AI with their innovative technique. During the COVID period, CoWin platform, Arogya Setu, innovative PPE Kits, testing kits, advanced masks, etc. were some of the need-based innovations made by the National Health Authority, premiere institutes, and startups across the nation. Such breakthroughs aided by the government’s policy initiatives ensure that India will leapfrog in the digital space by leveraging technologies that provide digital services.
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