CXOToday has engaged in an exclusive interview with Mr. Abhishek Ghosh, Co-founder & Director, Medisage
The pandemic has increased the need for remote healthcare services. Today, experts are working beyond boundaries
- How is MediSage digitizing medical information for doctors?
MediSage is a digital platform for doctors, which is democratizing access to knowledge for doctors around the world. MediSage is working with Hospitals, Academic Institutions, Medical Associations and State Health Councils to build a space which brings the medical community together for collaborative learning.
MediSage’s vision is to connect with the last-mile doctor and build a global ecosystem of doctors and healthcare professionals to drive early diagnosis & better patient outcomes, a part of which is being realized through the Rural Outreach programs on the platform.
The Rural Connect
- MediSage connects with over 2.2 lakh doctors in rural India
- Doctors can access the latest medical information that helps in patient care
- MediSage will launch more clinical support tools to assist doctors engage with patients
It is really good to see rural doctors opening up more and more to technology and the MediSage portal. Every week, it gets to see a huge number of new patient cases being posted by rural doctors asking for second opinions from senior doctors. This is one of the major ways of collaboration and knowledge-sharing with the medical fraternity.
The biggest impact of MediSage is that it wants to narrow down the huge urban-rural divide. To a large extent, the portal has been able to democratize knowledge, especially with many of the specialties based out of urban markets. General practitioners in rural areas have to handle many critical cases, including heart failure, diabetes and cancer with only limited information. Stressed by rampant diseases and the increasing number of new medications for their treatment, doctors can resolve a lot of challenges by gaining access to specialty experts on the platform.
Today, with MediSage, doctors from rural markets are not only able to post cases on the platform to get responses from experts in urban markets, but are also able to access information available on the platform through videos, live interactions and leading medical journals from across the world.
Over the past several years, technology has changed our lives 360°, but the healthcare sector was not taking it seriously at all. The pandemic transformed the entire healthcare scenario throughout the world, including in India. Today, we see doctors asking for medical information online. We have seen many medical associations and healthcare organizations, in the past two years, coming forward to host online webinars and virtual conferences to educate and share information with members.
With such effective online learning solutions, doctors can keep themselves updated with best practices, developments in medicines, diagnostics, treatments, and patient care. Right now, MediSage is witnessing vast changes in improving efficiency and patient outcomes. At present, its focus is to bridge the gaps and make care delivery superior, accessible and cost-effective. The future challenges demand skilled and efficient healthcare professionals.
- Why is digital healthcare important?
Technology-based platforms, like AI, will help people get more oriented and focused healthcare facilities. With such technologies, people will also be able to get services whenever and wherever they need to. Additionally, health practitioners are able to offer personal digital advice early to patients. Thus, they will be able to help patients keep several health issues in check. This way, doctors can deliver the right treatment procedures and interventions at the right moment.
Connect with Ease
Even a few years ago, patients had to go through a lot of formalities at a doctor’s clinic and at the hospital. They had to spend long hours at reception desks filling out forms and talking to assistants describing their ailments and so on. They had to wait even longer to connect with a doctor. Today, technology is helping patients to connect directly with a doctor instead of waiting in long queues, so the problems can be solved much faster.
Responsive Healthcare
The number of people who develop chronic diseases is increasing by the day. So, pressure on the healthcare system to control such diseases is increasing around the world. This is where a highly responsive digital healthcare system has the capacity to play a major role. It offers a platform for people to get treatment as soon as possible from remote corners of the country, thus reducing the burden on healthcare facilities in the big towns and cities.
AI Redefining Healthcare
New and advanced technologies are redefining the healthcare space. According to a report, by 2025, AI in the Indian healthcare sector is likely to grow at a CAGR of 50.9%. AI—especially ChatGPT—will offer unique applications, like virtual health assistants and chatbots that are designed with this technology to help patients get responses to all their queries immediately. AI will also make it possible for patients to get personalized therapies based on their individual health condition and lifestyle.
Reducing Doctors’ Burden
Issues like physician—or doctor—burnout have been troubling the healthcare sector for long globally. Studies reveal that doctors spend at least two hours on administrative tasks, such as prescription paperwork, clinical documentation and so on for every hour spent on patient care. This causes high levels of burnout. With automation, things are changing. Gone are the days of manual Medical Transcription! AI-based voice-recognition software will help doctors to document clinical encounters. Besides, speech-recognition software will help schedule follow-up appointments; generate e-mail, orders, and prescriptions; help billing and collecting payments, and so forth. These technologies, if used effectively, can drastically cut down on the administrative burden of doctors and streamline both ‘before’ and ‘after’ patient care processes.
- How is the healthcare sector preparing for the digital revolution?
Technology, as in all other fields, is playing a significant role in the digitizing process of the fast-changing healthcare industry. In fact, the sector must consider adopting real transformation for better connected and integrated data and information systems. Not just the healthcare system, but also its allied sectors—Radiology, Diagnostics, Medical Technology and Health Insurance—will also reap the benefits of technology. Digital transformation of the healthcare sector aims at implementing innovative solutions to optimize workflow processes and compliances, manage patients’ health and reduce costs.
The healthcare sector has been implementing such technologies as AI and 3-D printing, among others that are overhauling it altogether. To stay relevant in this rapidly changing world, health experts are working remotely, too. Therefore, people can get treatment for all kinds of illnesses easily from anywhere in the world. The pandemic has increased the need for remote healthcare services. Today, experts are working beyond boundaries.
Digital solutions are enabling providers to not only save costs and time, but also helping patients take control of their health data and allowing stakeholders to change their business models to include tailored treatment methods for patients. Technology is also helping effectively detect, manage and cure several diseases that were believed to be difficult earlier.
- Do you believe that the healthcare services offered by startups to patients are of a high quality?
Whenever an entrepreneur sets out to build a product, he/she intends and ensures it to be of a high quality. India being the technology and software development hub of the world has always built unique products to augment and enable consumers, doctors and paramedics to make the most of the products they create. It may well be said that The country is moving towards great quality healthcare.
- What about the current state and prospects of your organization in the digitally driven healthcare ecosystem?
MediSage has been growing stronger with each passing day, building a very strong healthcare ecosystem—not only in India, but also in the Asia-Pacific (A-Pac) markets. We have been able to create this digital ecosystem which has healthcare practitioners across multiple setups, such as government and private sectors, medical students’ community, hospitals, rural doctors’ community—all engaging strongly to build a very strong and powerful democratic ecosystem. As we continue to offer them better tools to learn and collaborate among themselves, we believe it will help drive better patient care and outcomes globally. Today, MediSage is growing naturally since the healthcare community thinks this to be an ‘Ocean of Knowledge’ for them.
