The global healthcare tech is trying hard to tack the outbreak of the contagion. Social distancing and quarantine are not enough to encounter the pandemic. Vaccines are yet to come up, researches are still going on. Several healthcare tech startups have introduced software-enabled tools to determine the symptoms of the patients at an early stage for a better mode of treatment. The article deals with the steps taken by the healthcare tech during the hours of crisis.
In 1981, a thriller novel The Eye of Darkness written by an American author Dean Koontz mentioned the outbreak of a deadly virus in Wuhan, China. The piece of fiction taking the shape of a dark reality is no less than horror. Dean Koontz is a reputed and prolific writer but is no psychic. The Coronavirus Disease, popularly known as COVID-19, is declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
The virus has claimed hundreds and thousands across the globe; it has spread in over 150 countries from epicentre China. Healthcare technologies, both in India and the world, are aiding in this fight against COVID-19 to curb the endemic and cure the effected patients and prevent the transmission of this disease.
In densely populated countries like China and India, the virus is spreading faster than the wildfire. Healthcare tech is helping in researching on the procurement of effective medicines, drugs, diagnosis and other relevant clinical procedures. Tools are developed to assist the clinicians to identify the virus and take prompt actions to treat the same.
Social distancing and quarantine are preventive measures taken by thousands around the world, but still the virus is spreading in full swing. India has recorded a total of 415 cases as of 23rd March 2020, and the count is not reducing anytime soon, judging by the criticality of the given situation.
As reported by RAND Corporation, “China has already been leading some of the healthcare technology innovations because of the fast-growing demand of the healthcare sectors.” The pandemics like Cholera, Spanish Flue had plagued the world in the past. Then it would take years to identify the endemic itself. But now the medical practitioners and researchers are doing it in days due to the advanced technology and data analytics.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post, a telemedicine platform was launched by Sheba Medical Centre to isolate and treat the Israeli patients affected by the Coronavirus. Several Chinese employees are staying at homes after imposing self-isolation and quarantine. They are using videoconferencing tools like Zoom, for continuing remote work from their homes. CNBC reported that this cloud-based videoconferencing tool witnessed a 15% surge in its market share. Such virtual platforms help in preventing exposure to the virus and also enabling efficient communication among the employees. As reported by Business Insider, several hospitals in affected areas are using 5G enabled network and communication equipment to conduct a remote diagnosis of COVID-19 through telehealth systems.
Telehealth Tools During Pandemic
Providence Regional Medical Centre in Washington, USA has started using robots that can check the vitals of the infected patients using a stethoscope and communicate via an in-built monitor. CNN reported that such telehealth systems allow the medical practitioners to perform the basic diagnosis like checking the blood pressure and temperature of the infected patients. Dr Crompton Phillips, the chief clinical officer of the hospital said to Forbes, “Technology is allowing us to reduce the number of up-close interactions.”
Robots are also used for food delivery and rubbish disposal services. They can emit ultraviolet C lights to kill germs and sterilize the environment for preventing the transmission of the virus. Many aviation companies are using such high tech sterilization procedures for flights. The robots extend a helping hand to the doctors and healthcare professionals in detecting and treating the infected patients, without coming in contact directly. The robots are certainly subtracting the human intervention which is much essential during this fast-spreading epidemic. The doctors are at the highest risk of getting infected as they are close to the patients on a daily basis and COVID-19 has the capacity to infect many within a short span of time.
The healthcare tech is also updating software to recognize patterns and locate the probable signs of problems. Epic, the master in electronic health recording has updated its software, data analytics tools and travel questionnaires in collaboration with experts and scientists following the guidelines of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The main aim behind such a step is to ensure the frontline medical staff like doctors, nurses, and medical practitioners ask the questions related to the international travel history of the patients and the symptoms that can prompt precautions like isolation and social distancing. The virtual health tech platforms like Athenahealth and Meditech have launched a set of questionnaires based on the EHR software.
Hospitals Giving Tech-Enabled Healthcare
There are many hospitals and medical institutes that have launched chatbots that assist in screening the users for the presence of the Coronavirus before getting admitted to the hospital. The highly advanced algorithm based chatbots can help the users with prior identification of the symptoms and reduce unnecessary visits to the hospital. The symptoms of the novel Coronavirus are cough and colds, sore throats, fatigue, restlessness, just like any normal flue.
Within 14 days if the symptoms do not subside, then it hints towards COVID-19 or novel Coronavirus. The symptoms can be often confusing as they are similar to normal flu; so taking precautions and health check-up on time is mandatory. A Mumbai based Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm has developed a chatbot to answer several queries of the users. The WhatsApp nCov Helpdesk chatbox is programmed to answer the questions and provide timely information to the users.
Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre in China has developed wearables that can help in remote monitoring of the patients’ conditions. The temperature sensor monitors the body temperatures of the patients and sends the real-time information and sensor readings to the healthcare professionals. The sensors can also monitor the heart rates and the respiratory functions of the patients. Thus aiding in the early detection of the diseases. These software and technologically advanced tools can help in isolating the Coronavirus infected patients from the general population keeping the transmission in check.
AI-based digital health tech platform Medias Health, co-founded by Abhi Bhatia in Australia, launched its apps on 4th March 2020 which “can be used to reach someone really early on, educate the public, deliver accurate information relevant to their symptoms and quell the fears of people.” Arni Srinivasa Rao, from Augusta University USA, will launch his app soon for solving the need of the hour, as reported by the Economic Times. The risk checker apps will help in solving the queries of the panic-stricken user base and clear the confusion that is generated due to the massive outbreak of COVID-19.
Healthcare Tech Startups Having Innovative Measures
Healthtech startups in India and across the world have developed several at-home risk assessment tools. Such tools can advise people for prompt health check-up and quarantine, based on the severity of the symptoms. The users have to fill up an assessment sheet having questionnaires. AI-based algorithms will then assess the answers and the information provided by the users. It will then deliver the result such as no risk, minimal or moderate risk, high or severe risk. A notification will be sent to the nearest healthcare facility about the possible health monitoring requirement.
For a densely populated country like India and also for other nations with affected patients, there is a gap between the supply and demand. This gap cannot be solely bridged by the hospitals and institutions, this where the apps and the technological tools come in handy. Medias Health has developed Quro, a risk assessment tool for fighting against the COVID-19.
According to Bhatia of Medias Health, “The do-it-yourself web app tool presents the user with questions related to prevalent symptoms and risk factors in accordance with WHO protocols and guidelines.” He also added, “Given the size of the populace in India and the sudden outbreak of the coronavirus, we received more than 4,000 hits within 24 hours of rolling out the tool in India,”. Bhatia continued, “Our AI system is also continuously collating this data to help the Health ministry understand the magnitude of fear amongst people as well as steer potential high-risk cases towards early detection and timely medical intervention to prevent it from spreading further.” According to Srinivas Rao, “We wanted to help identify people who are at high risk for coronavirus, help expedite their access to screening and to medical care and reduce the spread of this infectious disease.”
Source: Centers For Disease Control
In India, there are approximately 420 persons every square kilometre and this is higher than in most countries in the world. Lack of proper infrastructure and healthcare facilities may pose as a weakling in the fight against Coronavirus. If this one particular disease becomes the centre of attention then all the other diseases and routine checkups will be hampered, due to the insufficient facilities. As reported by Census, 45 crores of people migrated within India annually in 2019 due to various reasons like job opportunities, education etc.
Conclusion
The novel Coronavirus outbreak can be an uncontrollable country like India, which has a low infrastructure, dense population and very high internal migration. The health regime, daily hygiene, and the lifestyle habits of the majority of the Indian population can trigger the fast spreading of the disease. The super spreaders, that is the infected people are the carriers of this easily transmitted virus; it can take mammoth shape in a developing and highly populated nation like India. The health tech startups, the technologically advanced tools, the software and algorithms can bridge the gap between the supply and demand.
The proper medication is not yet developed for fighting COVID-19. WHO is researching on the treatment procedures and hopes that the medicines applicable to other virus borne respiratory diseases like SARS and MERS can be useful for Coronavirus as well. Instead of coming up with new medications, which could be very time consuming, the organization is looking for answers in other well-established medications that were successful in curing similar diseases. Nothing is established yet, and the world is yet to get a cure for the mass destructive Coronavirus.