Can technology fix a broken healthcare system?
There is no question that the Indian healthcare system is broken. This is why there is so much buzz in trying to find solutions to heal the sick healthcare system. I enjoyed attending the Health 2.0 conference held recently in Bangalore. There were a lot of clever entrepreneurs who were showcasing their healthcare technology start-ups. It was inspiring to see how much innovation is happening in India at the grass oots level.
The trouble is that technology companies are busy looking for technological solutions. They are focussed on genomics; big data analytics; mHealth; personalized medicine; and wearables. It’s possible today to acquire huge amounts of personal data from the individual, so that medicine can become more personalized. This is a very seductive concept, which is based on the implicit assumption that the more we know about the patient ( by analysing his data), the better the job the doctor will be able to do.
While this is perfectly logical, unfortunately we sometimes forget that human life is actually extremely messy. More is not always better – and sometimes the signal-to-noise ratio for this data is very poor. It ends up creating a lot of hype, which is why they make for great conference presentations, but this creates a lot of confusion as well, because it’s hard to find the nuggets of actionable wisdom in this haystack of data.
These companies are start-ups, and they are run by entrepreneurs who have to be optimistic. They have to keep on overpromising as to what the technology will be able to deliver, as they scramble for funds and media attention. We seem to have forgotten the lessons which we learned so painfully in the past. Not so long ago, people felt that artificial intelligence and expert systems would revolutionize medical science and make doctors obsolete.
We are now mature enough to realize that it’s not possible to fit patients into convenient slots – and that a lot is healthcare based not just on intelligent data analysis , but on personal handholding and emotional support . While technology can help to advance the scientific basis of medical care, the human component – the ability to provide care compassionately and with empathy, is becoming increasingly important. This is why we need to temper our enthusiasm, rather than expect technology to provide solutions to what is essentially a human problem of caring for others.
I am not a Luddite, but there is a lot of collateral damage which over-enthusiasm for technology can inflict. This has been well documented, and seemingly benign medical interventions, such as HRAs ( health risk assessments) , annual check-ups and screening tests have been documented to be harmful.
The most important lesson came from Dr Thulasiraj of Aravind Eye Care, who clearly showed that the basis of effective healthcare delivery lies in cultivating empathy and compassion. Unfortunately, this is not something which can be bottled and prescribed, or delivered through an app, so we will have to continue to look for ways to marry technology with love and care!
Source: The Health Site
Published: 04 Mar 2014
Category: Top Story
