Transcript Life Story of a few people working on the Railway Platform

Innovations in Healthcare
21st Feb 2009
Shyam Bedbak
Initiatives by Microsoft and Google
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An effort to integrate IT and Healthcare
Will integrate and use the following resources:
– Internet search tools
– Records of health of patients
– Resources available online
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Based on the concept of ‘Mass consumerization of health information’
People are increasingly using internet for information on health and looking for
advice
Current situation:
– Electronic records form only 20% of the total records
– Usually controlled by doctors, hospitals or insurance cos
– 58% people actually look up for medical advice/information before coming to the doctor
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In future:
– Consumers will control more of information
– Will have customized ‘health profile’ and ‘health guide’
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Problems:
– Privacy issues of the health records
– Getting the required storage, search customization and networking to generate results
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Companies like WebMD are already working on this
R&D: Mixing drugs to get new ones
• Mix two old generic drug to make a new medicine
• Though crude and trial-and-error type, the process is very
cheap
• Presently, companies are struggling to develop new drugs
and fill the pipeline
• Orexigen Therapeutics of San Diego, recently went public
based on the prospects for two combination drugs it is
developing to treat obesity
• IT can play a key role in this
– Robotic drug screening technology
– Creating thousands of pairs everyday
• Alexis Borisy has had substantial success in the field
– 8 drugs have proceeded for clinical trials in last 7 years
• Biochemical pathways in treating a disease are multiple
Combining IT, Healthcare and Gaming
• Product – DiaBetNet
• For taking timely measurements of sugar
levels in blood
– Children were given bonus points in the game for
checking their blood levels
– Otherwise, its difficult to make young patients
prick for testing sugar levels 4 times a day
• Much better monitoring observed in the set of
children with this device as compared to
others without the device
Source: http://ttt.media.mit.edu/impact/diabetnet.html
Smart Tablet PCs
• Book-size device
• Has a built-in bar scanner
– Can identify patients using this
– Can track the progress of medications
• Can store, access and update the records
wirelessly
– Hence, can operate from anywhere in the hospital
• Advantages
– Helps cut down on the paper work
– Reduces medical errors
– Improves efficiency
Source: http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_c5.asp
Anaemedia
• Problem
– 20% of maternal deaths in India caused by anaemia
– Anaemia leads to weakness, fatigue and reduced
physical ability
– Tests require blood samples in path labs
– Inaccessible and costly for the most affected –rural
people
• Solution: Anaemedia
– Prickless anaemia scanner
– Rugged and dust resistant
– Can be used by low-skilled village health worker
• Compares values from the chart and recommends dosage
Telemedicine in India
• What is telemedicine?
– A small health care centre with
• PC with customized medical software
• A few medical diagnostic devices e.g. ECG, X-ray etc
– Medical reports of diagnostics sent to the superspecialty hospital
– Reports are analyzed and treatments
recommended through video conferencing
Source: Bagchi S (2006) Telemedicine in Rural India. PLoS Med 3(3): e82
Recent Trends: Telemedicine as a
solution
• Connects doctors/hospitals with rural
areas
• Telemedicine network established by
ISRO
– Connects 22 super-specialty hospitals with 78
rural and remote hospitals
– Covers remote areas like Andamans, J&K,
Lakshadweep etc
– Focuses on Community health and
opthalmology
Source: Bagchi S (2006) Telemedicine in Rural India. PLoS Med 3(3): e82
ISRO telemedicine project
• Hospitals have to be government-run
• Provides telemedicine equipments and required
bandwidth on INSAT satellites
• Bandwidth also provided to the private superspecialty hospitals if
– Provide specialty consultation
– Charge government rates
• May open up this space for private player
charging a fees for the bandwidth and other
services
– Will help to enhance reach
Source: Bagchi S (2006) Telemedicine in Rural India. PLoS Med 3(3): e82