The novel coronavirus pandemic is shutting the lights off for the global economy. The health crisis has morphed into an economic catastrophe for the entire world. COVID19 is likely to have serious and long-term economic consequences around the globe. While most economies are in a state of shock, the impact of this crisis could be more severe than the 2008 Global Financial Crisis or the Great Depression in the early 20th century. Amongst all sectors, one sector where the impact of such a pandemic could have been anticipated was the healthcare sector. Even countries such as the USA and the UK, which have conducted exercises in planning for an epidemic, either did not anticipate such devastation or did not learn lessons from those exercises. Hence, once the pandemic was underway, some of the major shortages were intensive care beds, ventilators and personal protection equipment for caregivers of those infected by the virus. In countries with state-funded healthcare systems, the response to the virus was the most effective. Singapore, Taiwan, New Zealand and Japan are some of the countries that were able to have some control on the pandemic. These countries had the advantage of uniform access to healthcare. People were able to access testing either for free or with significant state subsidy. In times of economic hardship, the cost of accessing healthcare becomes of vital importance.
In the last few years, there has been a significant increase in start-ups addressing different aspects of healthcare delivery in innovative ways. Connectivity across the country has also been helped by the rollout of GSM technology and support from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in the form of free satellite time where GSM signal is patchy. Institutions like Aravind Eye Care System, Sankara Nethralaya and LV Prasad Eye Institute have used this technology to communicate with their mobile units sent to rural areas for provision of screening services, particularly for diabetic retinopathy. Saving and restoring vision, through early screening for diabetic retinopathy and diagnosis and management of cataracts and glaucoma, have demonstrated the effectiveness of innovative solutions in the domain of healthcare.
If India is to leverage the advantages of a thriving Health Tech ecosystem, both for its domestic needs and to export this technology to other countries, then certain steps must be taken. We remain convinced that India can actually learn from the experience of dealing with challenges brought about by COVID19, both in India and in other countries. This would enable us to put in place systems that will not only take care of the needs of the population in ‘peace time’, but also enable us to cope with additional demands placed on the healthcare sector in times of an epidemic.
Primary health care spans across multiple aspects of care; preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative. The present structure of the Primary healthcare system originated in the 1940s as an outcome of the Bhore Committee, headed by Sir Joseph William Bhore and set up by the Government of India in 1943. The 80-year-old system has several limitations: it is not accessible, is personnel intensive, is expensive with limited returns, does not provide required services and does not address the cause/determinants of disease. Universal Primary Healthcare can be achieved when AI-based primary healthcare can be delivered at the point of need—a person’s home— continuously and comprehensively. This can streamline the rest of the healthcare system as well.
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Source: Observer Research Foundation