The impact of technology on Indian healthcare

Technology has crawled in every sphere of our daily lives to such an extent that everything is just a touch away. Food, shopping, crockery and even vegetables are available via mobile application. But the strongest impact of technological advancements has been observed in the healthcare domain. The complexities between rural areas, urban areas, private and public hospitals have been untangled to the extent of easy and effective communication.

Patient history is of the utmost importance in a diagnosis and maintaining the books of annual records is a hassle for hospital management. With technology, this has been reduced to a search bar and patient name. Multiple software programs have been employed to keep an accurate track of patient history including dates, symptoms, diagnosis and medicines. This has substantially improved the healthcare standards available to the common man.

Earlier, medicines were available only at the hospital pharmacy or the nearby chemist. The inconvenience created due to the need of a refill at midnight was a problem faced by the majority. So, when technology tackled this issue head-on, it eliminated time and travel from the equation with home delivery. Medications ranging from aspirin to Schedule H drugs could be ordered via mobile applications. The prescription were uploaded on the application for reserved medicines to avoid misuse of the facility.

However, technological revolution could not impact the rural areas as much as urban regions. The lack of awareness and absence of easy access had changed nothing in the backward regions. With the amalgamation of hospitals and technology, their situation was finally improved.

The hospitals of such areas gained access to internet and started ordering medicines online. This reshaped the functioning of healthcare for rural people. The availability of top-notch medicines and better medical care gave them a stronger hope of survival. Due to low number of pharmacies, the medicines were sold at a fixed and non-economical price. The costs became flexible as online medicine costs constantly changed as per availability and market price.

The online services have also straightened out the process of hospitals. Multiple websites have been instrumental in connecting manufacturers and hospitals. Due to this, issues like wrong purchase, imbalanced inventory, etc. are minimized which assists the hospital in saving money. Such small scale savings integrate annually to compensate the operational costs.

Upcoming projects like live sessions with doctors, online chat rooms for patients, etc. are set to change the face of health care in India and put it at par with the best services available globally. It will not be an understatement to say that with the cooperation of health care providers, technology has revolutionized the standard of living of people from all walks of life.