India’s underprivileged must have affordable quality healthcare: Prof S.P Singh Baghel

New Delhi:  Even as India’s healthcare ecosystem has reached the digital age, offering affordable healthcare facilities to 80 crores of underprivileged rural Indians should be of paramount importance to all related to the sector, said Prof. S.P. Singh Baghel, Minister of State, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in his inaugural address at the Digital Health Summit, organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Prof. Baghel also mentioned that medical treatment and healthcare facilities being offered to different socio-economic segments of society needed to be of the same quality. Speaking of bringing healthcare facilities to the poorest of the poor in the country, the Minister, underlined the importance of the Ayushman Bharat Card. Data Security of medical records for rural populations was another critical area that needed to be looked into very closely, he said. For this a strong regulatory body must be in place to further strengthen the sector, Prof. Baghel added.

IAMAI presented the first edition of the Digital Health Summit 2023, a conference dedicated to exploring the transformative potential of technology in achieving ‘Digital Health for all’ in India. The theme of the conference was “Positioning India as a Global Leader in Digital Healthcare”. Set against the backdrop of rapid technological advancements in the healthcare sector, this summit addressed the opportunities, directions, and eventual winners that will shape the next decade. The IAMAI Digital Health Summit 2023 brought together industry experts, thought leaders and innovators to deliberate on the current issues that technology is effectively addressing within the healthcare landscape.

Speaking at the inaugural session Prashant Tandon, Chief Executive Officer, TATA 1mg & Chair, IAMAI Healthtech Committee, said that this was India’s opportunity to create new healthcare models that might be followed internationally. The tech capacity in India, he pointed out, was very strong, and the quality and quantities of data — AI, ML, data security — all of these gave India the unique opportunity to lead from the front.

Dr. Alexander Kuruvilla, Chief Health Strategy Officer, Practo and Co-Chair, IAMAI Healthtech Committee, said that India was poised to become a global leader in digital healthcare with new-age surgical care and other schemes in practice.