NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, September 9, 2016

Today, the primary healthcare infrastructure covers less than 20% of the country’s primary healthcare needs. To address this issue and help patients in the rural and remote areas, in 2012 Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) launched the eHealth Center (eHC) initiative which is simple, easy to deploy and rapidly scalable solution that leverages technology to create patient-centric healthcare systems at affordable costs. The solutions include a shipping container which is low cost and easy to deploy in the remotest of villages and carry medical instruments like a small laboratory, ECG, spirometer, digital thermometer and other basic medical equipments. To understand more about this, Dataquest spoke to Lux Rao, Chief Technologist, Technology Services, HPE India.

How can technology enhance the key values of healthcare sector?

Healthcare is among those sectors that can be enhanced through technology. However, domain specialization is an important aspect of this sector. Healthcare professionals need to be highly skilled individuals who also need to possess high levels of domain knowledge. So the question here is how can technology play a role in enhancing the value of healthcare?

Traditionally, a doctor – patient interaction includes the doctor conducting a physical examination of the patient and going through the individual’s past medical records. Furthermore, the doctor will check the patient’s vital signs such as blood pressure and temperature. Basis of all these inputs he/she will give his/her opinion. So here, we are dependent on three important elements – the physical examination of the patient, his/her past medical records, and inputs through diagnostic apparatuses or devices. While such a doctor – patient interaction model will continue, it is important to leverage technology to further enhance this interaction.