The Rise Of Digital Healthcare In India
Digital Healthcare in India
Technology is the most important driver of disruptive innovation in medicine & patient care and over time we have seen how technology and healthcare can go hand in hand. Technological innovations in healthcare are something many startups are looking forward to investing their time and efforts in since this merger of engineering and medicine will benefit both healthcare providers & healthcare seekers.
As per the report by Healthcare Express, the booming Indian healthcare industry is growing at a CAGR of 23% which goes on to prove how technology can be harnessed to be advantageous to this sector. The healthcare service sector in India is one of the largest, providing quality healthcare to the 1.3 billion-plus population and the Indian healthcare industry is expected to touch USD 372 billion (roughly INR 27,90,000 crores) by 2022.
What are the trends in Digital Healthcare?
1. Telehealth:
During covid, the world shifted to apps that provide audio and video calls to seek appointments with doctors. The power of telemedicine is reflected by how people sitting in tier 2 and tier 3 cities adopted these apps to streamline the process of availing healthcare services. Teleconsultation is something that almost every major hospital is coming up with and it has been very helpful during the pandemic because it prevented unnecessary crowding in hospitals that could have been hazardous.
2. Medical IoT:
There are apps available in the market which can track your heart rate, sleeping pattern, BP, glucose levels, oxygen levels, and temperature without requiring the intervention of your doctors along with devices that can automatically give your providers information about your health. Devices like glucose monitors are not only facilitators in monitoring glucose but also give alerts when glucose levels are becoming problematic.
Because of innovations in technology, we have mobile apps and devices with in-built features for monitoring our heart, SpO2, step count, sleeping Cycle, ECG, heart rate, and a plethora of other features. These are a boon and have become an integral part of our life!
3. Mental Health Applications:
In India, mental health is something that was not given much importance. But now healthcare providers are focusing on mental health and the data published by healthcare firms show that the demand in asking for mental health support post-covid has increased. There are plenty of ways to nurture and care for the state of your mental health. Some of these include practicing mindfulness and meditation, seeing a therapist, talking to a friend, lighting some candles and reading a book, or simply taking a nap.
To support this, we have so many mobile apps which support mental health built using tech stacks like React Native, Flutter, Angular, etc. Starts up are betting on mental health applications and they are soon going to gain traction in the market.
4. Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality
Computers, smartphones, and televisions have all become a big part of our lives and we spend most of our time looking at screens these days. They are how we get a lot of our news, use social media, watch movies, and much more. Virtual Reality (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR) are two technologies that are changing the way we use screens, creating new and exciting interactive experiences.
Virtual Reality uses a headset to put you in a computer-generated world that you can explore; Augmented Reality, on the other hand, is a little different! Instead of transporting you to a virtual world, it takes digital images and layers them on the real world around you through the use of either a clear vision or smartphone and many companies are making use of both these technologies to create innovative healthcare solutions for their intended audience.
Trending technologies to build Telemedicine apps
There is a surge in demand for building telemedicine mobile apps to give people the best possible patient care. The IT consulting firms have seen new requirements flowing in for building healthcare apps which is a clear indicator of how digital solutions are going to the future of the healthcare sector. There are digital healthcare IT solutions firms that build hospital management apps, teleconferencing and some IoT-driven apps to monitor the health of patients. At GeekyAnts, we have built mobile apps for mental healthcare, pediatrics care, video conference and audio calls to schedule appointments. In one of the apps, we chose to use cross-platform technologies for React Native (Frontend), Node (Backend), Database (Firestore), SDK for video integration Twilo pr WebRTc. We also built SDKs and APIs on React Native to improve the functionalities of the apps.
The use of health data is very crucial. Hospitals have EHRs systems in place but data transmission from one hospital to another hospital has been challenging. The health records of the patients help healthcare providers in making the right decisions about what type of care the patient requires. Interoperability in healthcare is the need of time and we have used an interoperability tech stack (C#, AZURE SQL, AZURE Functions, Azure Cloud services) to provide a digital healthcare solution for one of our partners.
Final Thoughts
In India, hospitals and other healthcare specialists are coming forward to understand how technology can help them track the history of patients and are harnessing it to provide the best possible healthcare experience. With accelerated R&D practices in healthcare, especially around IoT devices, healthcare providers and seekers have understood the value of digital healthcare services. Medical professionals have started putting across their thoughts on where the gap is and how technology can be leveraged to fill those gaps. The opportunity for innovation in healthcare is huge and can be leveraged to provide better patient care.
We, at GeekyAnts, have worked with multiple healthcare firms and embarked on journeys with them to better the experience of availing healthcare as well as streamlining processes within the system. As the demand for digital healthcare grows, we aim to forerunners in the field who are able to provide cutting edge solutions by harnessing the latest technologies.