Why is Involvement of Technology & Artificial Intelligence in 'Healthcare' a MORAL and DIRE Need today, more than Ever!

Healthcare Sector is an Always Overloaded Sector. The Doctor-Patient Ratio for India is 1:1700 approximately. You can see how that can work ever with just Human Effort.

For a Country like India, We cannot Just Build 100s of New Medical Colleges, Create thousands of Doctors and Hope of Improving The Quality and Provision of Healthcare Services to People the Old way.

We need To Do Something New and Re-invent the way we Provide Healthcare to all.

Technological Assistance and Support is Must to resolve these issues, Specially Keeping in mind that the Number of Patients and Old People is Going to Rise Drastically in coming decades in our Country as well as globally and It won't catch up with the Pace at which Doctors are 'Created' by Governments and Private Institutions.

Given below is a look at the Scenarios Today that are already expressing the The Need for Improvement and Re-invention of Systems in Healthcare Provision need Huge Changes and Attention.

Consider this,

Even the Best and Most 5 Star Rated Hospitals in India are Unable to Provide Proper and Personalised Care to Patients today.

Even if you go to Big Names like Max, Apollo or Fortis, And Even if you are a Very Well to do Rich Person, Doctors Hardly have any TIME to attend you or Your Patient Properly, Let alone Explain to you What is Wrong with You or Your Patient, How did this Happen, What do they Plan to do Or What are the Best Options you Have?

Here are a Few Problems almost 90% of Patients Face in our Country.

About Getting inside a Hospital:

This is A Clear Fact with no Denial that No Proper Patient and Attendant Counselling is done in any hospitals Countrywide. Patients are Just Sitting blank, in doubt, Paying Heavy bills and Looking at Doctors and Nurses Running here and there, Meeting you only to Slam Bills or Get Signatures on 'Consent forms'. Maybe a few Highly Paying, Rich 1% get a Little bit better Answers from Doctors on their Rounds in their Private Rooms, but the rest are just "Relying on God's Will" for Proper care and counseling.

What Happens when you encounter a Medical Emergency?

There is no denying about the Most Common Scenarios.

You reach the Emergency Ward of a Hospital in a Metro city, where Most Likely you won't even get a Bed. A friend of mine with Severe Typhoid reaches the Emergency of a High Profile Hospital, There is No Bed, On Wheelchair all tests are done. The only 5 minutes, She gets to Lie down on a bed is when her 'turn for an Ultrasonography' Test comes up. She is just getting a 'feeling' that, ' Itney Test Karwa liye, Pain to theek huya nahi" (Meaning: I have been resorted to a Plethora of unnecessary tests, but still no relief in my Pain).

All the Doctors and Healthcare staff as always is 'Excessively busy' attending a flood of Patients in the Emergency Ward. Nobody is at fault, And Nobody is achieving any Goals, at least not As he or she are supposed to be achieved. 4 hours later, My friend is Discharged and handed over a Bill of 14,000/- Rupees. She goes home with a Few Medicines, NO relief goes to another Smaller hospital next day, stays Admitted for 6 days, Pays almost the same amount, Once again and thankfully comes home Recovered.

What happened in the Above story? A Person reaches a hospital, no one has time, Tests, done, reports were given, medicines listed, Bill Paid, Gets No Answers, Patient is out in 4 hours with a Huge bill. But, Is this 'Real Patient CARE'?

And this is a Common Stroy everywhere.

If you get a Bed, You may not get a bed in the Ward. If you go to the ward, Doctors come at rounds for hardly 3 minutes per Patient. Nobody tells you what's wrong. You are just a Machine there, sitting to Sign and Consent letters or Paying bills.

These are the Kind of incidents that Lead to Doctors getting Beaten up, Than Strikes by Doctors than Strikes by Patients than Blaming the Governments and all the mess, and in the End, No one gets Nothing.

Who is at fault?

The Doctor? NO, He is doing his Duties.

The Patient? Obviously NOT, he is Sick, Upset, Scared and Frustrated as well.

The System we follow: MAY BE!!!

The Government: Well, There is NO WAY it is EVER Possible that any Government will be able to Create lakhs of New Hospitals and Lakhs of New doctors, especially when it can hardly Pay for the One's that already exist. Manufacturing a New Hospital, Lakhs of New Doctors and Nurses is Not only Time consuming but Extremely Costly. The government would never spend that much on the healthcare sector, just accept it.

Private institutions: They are already doing their best systems, still there is an overload.

Neither Doctors, not patients are at fault. The Patient LOAD is SO Enormous that no one can do anything. It is the System that is flawed and incapable of taking this much load. A New system has to emerge and that system Means use of New Ways and New Technology to Manage things. to make them easy for everyone and Help solve all the Problems.

Even if you "Get in", What about Proper Getting Patient Care and Above that 'What about the Answers you Seek?':

Patient Load is So Enormously High, IT is In all Means, IMPOSSIBLE for ANY HUMAN BEING, to take care of SO MANY patients together, and that to Effectively.

You can Never blame the Doctors, and Obviously, You cannot Blame the Patients. The above paragraphs I mentioned explained the scenarios of a 5 Star Hospital. Now Just imagine the PLIGHT of a Government hospital. Patients are lying on Stretchers, waiting to get a chance to enter the emergency. 2 may be 3 Junior Resident Doctors are running here and there, Prioritising things and Patients and doing Everything they can do, for everyone do Maximise Patient care and Heal the patients, BUT, this is Practically IMPOSSIBLE to take care of all the Patients PROPERLY in this much Patient Load, let alone satisfy their Questions.

Most Patients who even Enter INSIDE the Hospital and Healthcare SYSTEM and Get on the 'FILE' are not Properly taken care of because of this excessive Patient load. Doctors work in 12-15 hour Shifts Daily. Their life is Under constant stress. They are Real Superheroes, no denying in that. If you have a 50 Patients in your Ward and You are taking care of them daily, You cannot do you best for all EVER, but if you are saving and doing good enough for 40 of them, you are a Super Hero.

What About Follow Ups & Home Care:

Once you are Discharged and You need Proper care from home, You need to follow some guidelines and instructions that will make sure your recovery is permanent and In good direction. BUT, Who is to make sure that happens, How to make sure you are following your Medicine Regimen, Did you follow the diet charts, How is Your condition improving or falling down, Your Sugar values, Your BP, Your Psychological Mood swings, Are they going to a better direction, are they deteriorating, Whom can you talk to anytime? Who will guide you, Who will Answer your Doubts when you have any, What if some Sudden emergency erupts again? Most People are just helpless, and would just rush to the same Hospitals and go through the SAME hassle as written above. BUT, this is NO LINE for an AADHAR CARD or MOBILE REPAIR. This time, the Line for a Bed or the Waiting for an Important Guidance is the difference between you or your loved one's LIFE & DEATH.

What to do in a Medical Emergency?

There are about 40-50 Medical Emergencies where just being educated about basic life-saving techniques is enough to save your loved one's life. Many Patients Are unable to make it because the crucial 40-50 minutes are wasted making the right decisions for the Patient. Nobody knows what to do in a Situation. And everyone knows the Mess and Expense of a Hospital admission.

There has to be a Guiding System and Software for this, There is no way a Doctor can be a friend of yours everywhere.

To be Precise:

What to do in an Emergency? Not getting a chance to get admitted to a Hospital, IN TIME, Not getting the necessary guidance in time, Even if admitted, Most Patients will not get that individualised attention and care that is needed, Missing important clues to diagnosis, making of Wrong judgements by Doctors due to Overload or Human error, Absolute Lack of Patient counselling and explanations, Poor Follow-ups, Poor Home care and After Discharge care, Lack of any Past Medical Records or History in Digital form, Lack of resources for Healthcare, High cost of Healthcare and Healthcare Providers, and Many other Problems in this Sector Simply cannot be Solved if we do not CHANGE the Way Healthcare Sector Works and functions.

It is needed for the good of Both Doctors and Patients.

We Need Techniques to Guide People in Medical Emergencies, We MUST have digital and Cloud-based Medical Data Storage and Analysis, We Must have a Personal Diagnostician and Emergency Guide for every human being for healthcare, We Must have a software that can manage and Compile a Patients past medical History to Guide both the Patients and Doctors and Yes we do need more hospitals and Professionals as well. We need better guidance and counseling systems. And we need a lot more of Support from New and New Technologies to revolutionalise and Improve this Sector.

Technological Assistance and Support is a Must for Better Efficacy of Healthcare Providers and Doctors as well as For Better Chances of Treatment and Management of Patients. 

But how and which types of technologies can help with it?

To be Continued...