Hospitals can save more lives if they go hi-tech: Dr Devi Prasad Shetty

BANGALORE: Safe healthcare is going to be the future of the healthcare sector, but sadly hospitals are not the safest places for health, Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, senior cardiac surgeon and chairman, NarayanaHrudayalaya, said on Friday.
Emphasizing on inclusion and use of information technology (IT) in the sector, Dr Shetty said: "Many lives can be saved if hospitals start using software technologies for diagnosis and prescriptions."
Speaking about the advantages of IT in the healthcare sector, Dr Shetty explained: "Most people across the globe think American hospitals are the safest place to get treated, but getting admitted to hospitals there is 10 times riskier than sky-diving.At least 10,000 people die in America due to erroneous prescriptions. These lives can be saved with software which helps in giving errorless prescriptions. Many doctors are scared of IT and software, so it has not yet penetrated the healthcare sector."
"With the help of IT, hospitals can function like Nasdaq or a supermarket. I believe, with the help of smart software, hospitals will be able to make smarter diagnosis than doctors after five years, and after 10 years, we'll also be able to get a second opinion with the help of smart software. So it's important for us to adopt technology," said Dr Shetty.
To improve healthcare service with help of IT, Narayana Hrudayalaya has tied up with ICT Health. The group, which runs 25 hospitals across India, uses a software called HINAI. This software helps maintain a health information system network and connect the data of all patients enrolled in these hospitals at a click of mouse. The group aims at reducing the cost of healthcare with the help of IT.
Narayana Hrudayalaya looks forward to extending their reach of care and delivering a more engaged patient experience by leveraging the mobility and collaboration features of HINAI system. This will enable patients in Narayana Hrudayalaya to have services such as online registration, appointments, access to electronic medical records, test results. Such e-services, including telemedicine, could be accessed securely by registered patients via internet and mobile devices.