Smart software will make smarter diagnoses says Dr Devi Shetty

The Indian healthcare sector is slowly expanding its wings towards a better future. With a gradual inclusion of technology, there are numerous new methods and platforms being tested. Looking at the current trends, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics, hybrid cloud development, virtual reality (VR) and blockchain are some of the top-ranking technologies being given attention.

Marking the prominence of technology in a podcast with Outliers, surgeon-entrepreneur Dr Devi Shetty of Narayana Health, said, “I believe that smart software will make smarter diagnoses than doctors in the next five years, and it will become legally mandatory for a doctor to take a second opinion from software before starting the treatment. It will become legally mandatory in the next 10 years.”

Shetty, who has been a force to be reckoned with in the Indian healthcare sector, firmly believes that incorporating technology will not only help the sector, but will make India the first nation to separate healthcare from affluence. Discussing about the negatives that come with lack of money, the entrepreneur remarked, “…putting a price tag on human life. This is what every doctor in every developing country does from morning till evening, putting price tags on human lives.”

Addressing this is the first thing needed for healthcare to improve. According to Dr Devi Shetty, we are asking the wrong questions. Describing the process of putting price tags on human lives as a negative, he asserted that “we have failed as citizens of society.”

Looking at the aspects that come along with technology as a boon, and how India can put them to use for an improved healthcare sector tomorrow, he mentioned that people should have electronic medical record (EMR) and data so as to build effective apps and solutions.

“I see big companies coming up, building artificial intelligence for all kinds of algorithms; for everything you need data. It is like, people are building all kinds of fancy vehicles but nobody is building the roads, right! So this is where we are. First, let’s build the road, then when the data comes, these are all minor details,” said Dr Devi Shetty during the podcast.

The technology trends that are defining the future of healthcare in India are at the threshold of expansion. Using them in the right manner will yield results that can put healthcare on an exemplary pedestal for the rest of the world. The predictions made by Dr Devi Shetty also hint in the same direction. “…healthcare really doesn’t need a tool that doesn’t exist. We have to put all the tools together and make it work to help people, that’s all. Everything that is required for wonderful healthcare delivery is already available. It is just that we haven’t put it together. Yes, that is what is required and that is going to happen,” he said.