The Week: COVID-19 Enabling Digital Health Adoption

COVID-19 becomes enabler and accelerator of digital health adoption

Laying a strong foundation to build a resilient and future-ready health ecosystem in India

The Week, Dr. D.K. Mangal And Suryaprabha Sadasivan, 7 April 2021

(Image courtesy of The Week)

COVID-19 continues to impact lives across the world, hampering health equity and outcomes and creating barriers in the socio-economic growth of countries. The past year has been a testing time for the healthcare sector, to put it mildly. While the pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of our healthcare system, it also led to an unprecedented push towards the adoption of digital technologies for healthcare management and to improve the overall efficiency of healthcare delivery.

Throughout the pandemic, innovative digital solutions such as the Aarogya Setu and other contact-tracing apps, telemedicine services, smart devices for healthcare monitoring, robotics, and Artificial Intelligence-enabled support for patient care, and most recently, the Co-WIN app for India’s vaccination drive have anchored our response to the public health needs. These have also reiterated the role of technology in strengthening our health systems.