Shashank ND
Founder & CEO, Practo

Single health account of the patient linked to their families, storing their medical information securely and providing helpful information timely, will help people live a healthier and longer life, says Shashank ND, Founder & CEO, Practo

Healthcare is perhaps one of the few industries yet to be completely disrupted by technology. It bothers me that millions find it difficult to search for an efficient doctor than a movie hall. It is easier to get a joke on your email than getting your own healthcare records. We talk of Digital India and making access to good healthcare a fundamental right yet millions in India and billions around the world struggle for it every day. How are we going to solve the problem?

Even if you look at people with access to healthcare, their experience is not much better. They have no way of finding the best doctors other than asking a few of their friends who may or may not know great doctors. Their medical history (if they were diligent enough to actually have one) is stored in fat files that need to be lugged around every time they want to see a doctor and even when they do; it is so cumbersome for doctors to go through them. They simply order more tests which make the file even fatter and leave your health not much better. Why cannot your healthcare information and history work for your benefit? Surely, in an era where keyboards can predict your next word and cars are driving themselves, your healthcare data can (and should) do more than just compile in a file (fat or thin or digital)and twiddle its thumbs.

There has to be a better and easier way of doing this. I envision a world where technology will help consumers find the best doctors with a few clicks. Generating, accessing and storing health records would be entirely done digitally. Patients will have a single health account linked to their families that will store their health information securely and providing helpful information (prescription reminders for instance) in a timely manner (prescription reminders to take medicines) to help people live healthier, longer lives.

Practo Ray software automates and simplifies clinic management so that doctors can focus on treating the patients. With Practo Tab, doctors can provide a superior patient experience in the clinic as well as have offline access to all their digital records.

The possibilities from here on are endless. For instance, finding the best doctor on Practo from thousands of doctors listed across the various countries we operate in and securely sharing your health information with the doctor with a single click, will make it extremely easier (and for the first time practical) for the patient to consult a doctor irrespective of geographical distance. This will make people in every corner of India (and around the world) getting access to the best healthcare they can. It will also make healthcare industry become a global integrated entity working to improve patient care.

The good news is that things are changing rapidly. Doctors and healthcare providers want to improve patient healthcare experience but so far, all the technological change had been focused on large medical devices and creation of medicines (which is obviously important). But the next phase of innovation will be centered on improving patient ability to make more informed healthcare decisions and making all the magic of modern medicine accessible to consumers easily, transparently so that they can live healthier longer lives.

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