BackBig Data: affordability factor is the key
The focus of Big Data, according to experts at the Mint Conclave, is to empower patients through information
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Universal health coverage is an issue that the Indian government has been taking steps towards, but with little progress. Big Data—collecting and analysing vast amounts of data—can help realize that goal, for example, by helping understand disease patterns so that optimal treatment plans can be designed. But Big Data can become big in the Indian healthcare industry only if it is made accessible to all, according to experts at the Mint Healthcare Conclave held in New Delhi.
The first step, of course, is to collect data so it can be analysed.
“The idea of allowing affordable access to Big Data is central to this particular tenet," said Kanav Kahol, team leader (affordable health technologies) at Public Health Foundation of India. “But if you want to get information from all the devices that are affordable, that’s when you generate data with which you can ask unstructured questions."
The focus of Big Data, according to some experts, is to empower patients through information. “This is the way to go, one is to get the patients, give them information, you empower them and you improve the quality of care. You also reduce corruption in healthcare," said Samiran Nundy, chief adviser at RAXA, a health information company.
But Nundy stressed on the challenges that needed to be overcome before achieving that objective. “It’s not that we have Big Data, but that we have no data. What we really need is to start collecting data, then to get patterns of disease to get treatment, to monitor results... I think it’s a good start to do it via electronic medical records," he added.
Varun Sood, chief information officer at Fortis Healthcare, agreed: “There are a couple of aspects, and one is that you need data to be able to talk of Big Data. We have a country that has started on electronic medical records only recently."
An important aspect for Big Data to work in healthcare is that it has to go beyond medical records. That would need services and facilities to be available—such as ambulances—which are lacking in India, experts said.
“Before we really go into implementing Big Data for analysis (let’s take a) simple example—ambulances: do they have GPS tracking for example? Do we have a good system where we know blood is available in the unit, or where (else) to go if there’s a roadblock? So these are the kind of things that we really need to know to build the systems before we really talk about Big Data," said Paul Francis, technical officer (maternal and child health) at the World Health Organization.
Adheet Gogate, India head (healthcare transformation services) at Philips India, added: “We will allow outcomes only till the extent of the weakest link. Big Data might allow us to get extremely sophisticated, but (if) we don’t have services like ambulances on the ground, it will just be restricted to a small portion of people who can afford it."
In the end, all experts concluded that for Big Data to work in healthcare, it has to go beyond healthcare. “We really need to look beyond the walls of a healthcare institution for data to really get the impact of Big Data moving," Sood of Fortis Healthcare said. “I think there is no bigger impact than what you can make on the governance."
Session 2
Need to tackle employee stress at workplace
There is a growing need for companies to invest in solutions to help employees handle stress, panellists at a recent Mint Healthcare Conclave in Delhi agreed.
“The corporate (world) has to care as they care about the bottom lines, right? And, in fact, it’s bottom line that actually leads to stress in the workplace. It’s usually when the bottom line is threatened that the employees, all along the management food chain, are threatened. Those higher up the food chain cause stress to those lower down the food chain and, in fact, it’s that sense of being overwhelmed by demands, by deadlines, by perhaps unreasonable demands that stress is created," said Vikram Patel, director (Centre for Mental Health) at Public Health Foundation of India.
“If I get a deadline at work when I’m having a fight with my wife at home, that’s a double problem for me as I’m no longer able to focus on the deadline, but is my manager concerned about my fight at home? Probably not. My manager is only concerned about the bottom line in his company, and I think corporates should care about that because in their focus on bottom line, if they’re not aware of the people who they work with and their personal circumstances, it’s their bottom line which ultimately suffers because the stressed-out workforce in my view is not a productive one," Patel added.
But stress at the workplace is not all bad. “Stress basically means the body’s responsive to an out-of-the-normal situation—something that is not part of usual day-to-day activities," said Ambrish Mithal, endocrinologist at Medanta Medicity. “There is a form of stress that is mandatory for us to perform. If there is completely no stress, then we will all be laid-back and doing nothing, so when we talk of stress it is not always bad stress. When it crosses the line, when that stress is disabling or has a deleterious effect on our performance or on health, that’s when stress becomes what we call bad stress. That’s what we really mean by stress."
Different people react differently to stress. “The link between psychological stress and physical stress is something that is extremely important and this has been researched very often recently. So when we are faced with unusual situations—maybe there is a snake in the front or a boss in the front—both are stressful situations. Our body reacts in a certain way and there are certain hormones that are produced. Now some people cope with such situations. Coping is extremely important. Some people cope with such situations well, their heart rate remains stable, their respiratory rate remains stable. But some people have excessive outpouring of hormones; unable to cope with the stress, they become symptomatic with various disorders—maybe mental or physical," said Anoop Misra, chairman of Fortis C-DOC (Centre of Excellence for Diabetes, Metabolic Diseases and Endocrinology), and director (diabetes and metabolism), Fortis Healthcare.
The handling of stress by an employee cannot only be left to employers. Employees should also take care of themselves. “A company can only do so much to tackle stress at the workplace and it should be up to individuals to take care of themselves. One way to start is by regularly practising yoga and eating healthy, on time," said Shikha Sharma, a preventive health and wellness consultant. “Junk food," she added, “should be avoided, despite easy availability and low cost."
vanshika.a@livemint.com
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