Dr K Hari Prasad

Application Creating a unified command and control system is crucial for dealing with disasters such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Besides, standardization for application of novel technology is the need of the hour as the healthcare industry is rapidly adopting technology to be able to operate in ‘new normal’, said Dr K Hari Prasad, President, Hospitals Division, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd at the second edition of Elets Digital Health Conclave held with a theme ‘Reimagining Healthcare with Technology’.

 

“We all were more into clinical medicine and physically in physical medicine, which was the things before the pandemic came in. But, the pandemic started and literally forced us to embrace technology and moved towards technology. But, I have a certain view about this, and that is pandemic is nothing short of a disaster and one of the fundamental principles of handling a disaster is to have a unified command and control system. But, unfortunately, that was the one which is lacking and that is still lacking and probably the way we handle the pandemic and the way we are going to handle the pandemic would continue to be sub optimal if we do not get into this command and control system across the country. I know a lot of us have been facing multiple issues as we had to deal with policies, decisions and rules and regulations framed at the national level and then at the state level. I really hope that there will be a day when there will be a central command and control system for at least this disaster like situation and this is going to help technology in a big way,” said Dr Prasad at the Panel Discussion on ‘Covid-19 & Digital Transformation: Key Lessons Learnt’ among other panellists comprising Dr Atul Mohan Kochhar, CEO, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH), Gautam Khanna, CEO, PD Hinduja Hospital, Rupak Barua, Director & Group CEO, AMRI Hospitals Ltd, and Rajiv Sikka, Chief Information Officer, Medanta – The Medicity.

Also read: As telemedicine grows, healthcare organizations must secure patient carec

Noting the role of technology in ‘new normal’ and the need for standardization for its adoption, he said, “Because of technology adoption, sustenance of technology over an extended period of time and to become a part of the new normal, standardization is critical today. It is not standardized; it is all over the place and each of us is doing it the way we want to do it, and we like to do it because there are no prescribed standards which are available at this point in time. So, I think this is an opportunity which we need to make use of to create some sort of standardisation whether it is for a teleconsult or teleradiology or E-ICU.”

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