Hyderabad, Telangana, India:  Dr Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President (Health Initiative) at the Rockefeller Foundation, New York delivered the second annual JNU Alumni Association lecture at Continental Hospitals, Gachibowli, Hyderabad.
 
Speaking on the subject – Can Digital Tools Bring More Healthcare to More People – Dr Rao, delivered a fascinating talk encompassing all of the opportunities in the postCovid era that have and continue to shape the healthcare paradigm in India. “While technology has vastly changed our lives in the last twenty years, it was during the Covid times that we saw an accelerated adoption of telemedicine and digital health,” said Dr Rao.
 
Speaking from his decades of experience at the confluence of technology & healthcare, Dr Rao opined that there will be a complete shift in patient journey soon. “From having to navigate an existing healthcare system, we will now see a proactive move to build healthcare systems around patient journeys. Healthcare will also become location agnostic, with equitable healthcare available to everyone, everywhere,” he said.
 
According to Dr Rao - digitisation of patient records, adoption of wearable technology, improvements in artificial intelligence, and greater penetration of virtual reality –are the four key elements that will shape the digital health paradigm while the affordability of these tools will be the key to their wider acceptance & reach.
 
“The 21st Century will be the century of data & information, and our society will be of those who have access to data, and those that don’t. While the monetary divide of haves & have-nots became the harbinger of several inequalities, we must not allow for a data divide to propagate and become the defining divide of this century,” Dr Rao appealed to the audience of academics, bureaucrats, medical professionals, business leaders, and members of the civil society.
 
Continental Hospitals Chairman & Managing Director Dr Guru N Reddy, in his concluding remarks, added that Continental has remained at the forefront of digitization from its inception and will continue to push the envelope for more transparent, accessible and affordable healthcare with the aid of digital tools & technology.
 
“Technological advancement, in every sphere of life, is inevitable and necessary. We must continue our quest for better technologies for improved healthcare, instead of being cynical and nihilistic about progress,” Dr Reddy underlined.