Blog: Preventing ( illness ) is better than Curing

Our Health Minister , Dr HarshVarhanji would be happy if we don’t fall ill

He has been telling us :

Ø Early to bed and early to rise

Ø Eat only healthy food / No junk food with lots of spices-salt-sugar – fried food

Ø Exercise regularly / Take regular walks in park / Do yoga – meditation

Ø Do not smoke – chew tobacco – drink Sharaab ( instead drink Ayurvedic Kadha )

Ø Have dinner 3 hours before going to sleep ( - at least in this respect, practice Jainism )

Above are general / universal guidance for entire society

Despite observing as much of these as possible, people do get sick with diseases, from time to time .

And, every day, 1663 children ( under age 5 ), die due to malnutrition !

Can these premature deaths be prevented ?

Apart from a doctor / hospital trying to “ Cure “ them by administering tests / medicines, can they be advised SPECIFIC PREVENTIVE things they should do to avoid / prevent , future illnesses ?

Kind of a CUSTOMIZED PREVENTIVE ADVICE ?

Currently this is being done ( though on a very limited scale ) by very few Family Doctors , who have been continuously treating a family-member for say, 20 years and remember life-time Medical History of that person

But even a family doctor , - a human – cannot vividly remember / recall, life-time Medical Histories of hundreds of his patients - histories spread over decades / histories comprising :

Ø Each illness ( at what age and for how long and how severe )

Ø Each pathological test / symptoms / measurements of body functions

Ø Each medicine prescribed – taken ( brand and generic , with active ingredients )

Ø Each surgical procedure

Ø Each reaction / outcome

Forget about the doctor. Even the patients themselves do not preserve their following records :

Ø X-ray plates / CDs / Reports of Radiologists

Ø ECG charts / CT – PET Scans

Ø Records of Blood Pressure / Oxygen levels / Pulse rates

Ø Drug prescriptions given by doctors / hospitals

Ø “Drugs sold “ bills , handwritten by chemists

Ø Operating / Surgical procedures carried out ( may be in different towns / countries )

Ø Long sessions with Psycho-therapists / Physio-therapists

Ø History / records of doctor-prescribed Diets , over many years

This is a partial list

But , if such records were maintained / preserve immaculately and uploaded regularly on some online Central Server, such a comprehensive MEDICAL HISTORY , could be enormously helpful to a doctor / hospital that a sick person visits for consultation / treatment

Of course , that person would need to grant that doctor / hospital, an EXPLICIT ( - and limited for a given time period ) permission to online ACCESS his Medical History , wherever that doctor / hospital is located

Some online websites ( listed below ),have come up to allow you to upload your past medical records / documents and enable you to grant such “ Specific / limited “ permissions

=========================================================

NOW THE GOOD NEWS .

In his Independence Day address to the nation, PM Shri Modiji announced the launch of :

National Digital Health Mission

Here is that announcement :

Digital record of health to revolutionise sector

Extract :

Ø “ From today, the national digital health mission will begin.

It will revolutionise Indian healthcare sector.

Every Indian will be issued a health ID that will act like a healthcare account,

storing details of

# All the tests done,

# Existing diseases,

# Diagnoses,

# Medicines prescribed, ”

said Modi in his Independence speech from Red Fort.

Ø It will also ease processes such as ,

# Booking appointments,

# Making payments, or

# Getting registrations done at hospitals, he said.

Technology will be used to resolve various problems in the health care sector

Ø The programme is a part of the government’s National Digital Health Blueprint aimed at using technology to improve health care delivery.

The objectives of the mission are to,

# Establish a core digital health database,

# Create a system of electronic health records based on international standards, and

# Establish data ownership pathways ,

so that a patient is the owner his / her health records, among others “

Ø “A nationwide health ID will ensure three things – continuity, connectivity, and portability of treatment.

If a patient goes to a different doctor or someone else fills in for their doctor, all the

medical records will be available to them ensuring continuity of their treatment.

When a patient has to go to a secondary or tertiary centre, all the basic information

will already be there in the record.

This is particularly helpful in the emergency department where knowing the blood

group or what a person is allergic to can save a lot of time.

It will also save cost of repeat tests.

The third is portability, which will enable me to have my entire healthcare record

when I move from one city to the other without carrying several files,”

said, K Srinath Reddy,( ksrinath.reddy@phfi.org ),

- president of the Public Health Foundation of India.

=================================

IN MY FOLLOWING E MAILS TO THE CABINET MINISTERS , I HAD RECOMMENDED AS FOLLOWS :

Digital Delivery of Drugs [ 11 Oct 2015 ]

Extract :

WHO ( which doctor ), prescribed WHAT drug ( drug name ), made by WHO (

name of drug manufacturer ), to WHOM (patient name ), and WHY ( disease

diagnosis ), and WHEN ( date ), and sold by WHICH ( drug store )

=================================

Modicare : A Game Changer [ 01 Feb 2018 ]

Extract :

Medicalchain, on the other hand, uses blockchain technology to store and share health records securely, allowing for easy and safe transfer of information between providers and patients.

=================================

AI for Healthcare ……………………………………………………………………………………….[ 17 June 2018 ]

Extract :

QUESTION :

How to go about collecting / compiling into a CENTRAL DATABASE , health records of

millions of sick Indians , using Electronic Health Record Standards ?

ANSWER :

Here is what I blogged in Jan 2018. I urge the Task Force on Healthcare to consider :

2024 ! – V 2.0 of Orwellian 1984 ?

There are 7,000 million people on the earth

It is possible that , at any given time , some 7 million of these are lying in ICU , connected with :

* Electroencephalogram ( Brain Monitor )

* Electrocardiogram ( Heart Monitor )

* Pulse Rate Meter

* Oxygen Level Meter

* Glucose Level Meter........etc

As soon as these instruments get embedded with Internet of Things ( IoT ), a central server could collect all of these " measurements / readings " on 24*7 basis, for all 7 million persons

Then it will combine these readings with following data about each of those 7 million persons :

* Country / Region / City / Language

* Race / Religion / Gender / Age

* Height / Weight / Colour / Biometrics

* Blood Group / DNA / Past Medical History.....etc

It will also record , who died / when !

Using such massive data base, can BIG DATA / Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning , figure out what " Customized healthcare / Medical treatment / Supplementary diet " should be " prescribed " for each human on this earth ?

Shall we support such " Invasion of Individual Privacy " , in the larger interest / benefit of entire mankind ?

I think , we should

=================================

Healthcare : The Unfolding Story [ 19 June 2018 ]

Extract :

Using such massive data base, can BIG DATA / Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning ,

figure out what " Customized healthcare / Medical treatment / Supplementary diet "

should be " prescribed " for each human on this earth ?

=================================

Ayushman Bharat : Think Big ………………………………………………………………………[ 23 Sept 2018 ]

Extract :

Consider this :

· Doctor takes the readings of the patient using these internet connected devices

· Devices transmit these data to the smart phones of both, the doctor and the patient

· These phones transmit these data to the Central Health Care Server of Ayushman

Bharat and update the LIFE TIME MEDICAL HISTORY of that person

· This history can be accessed only by the “ Authorised “ health centres / hospitals /

nursing homes, which are official partners of the Ayushman Bharat scheme

Imagine all the Medical Devices ( including ECG / EEG / PET Scan , located in private

clinics / health centers / hospitals / nursing homes / Path labs / Diagnostic centers etc

), transmitting to a Central Server ,

# medical diagnosis

# treatment

# administered drugs

# surgical procedures

for all 50 crore citizens covered by this scheme

And imagine such petabytes of health data being subjected to BIG DATA analysis using

AI !

Ayushman Bharat has the potential to usher this Health-care Revolution

=================================

Will “ Ayushman Bharat “ listen ? [ 14 Nov 2018 ]

Extract :

When that happens , expect the AI to do the following :

# Offer Customized healthcare / Medical treatment / Supplementary diet

# Guide your family doctor to prescribe the best-suited medicine for each member of

Your family

# Recommend some “ preventive “ medicines before a disease manifests itself !

=================================

Health Data Vault [ 16 June 2019 ]

Extract :

“ All the Health Data of all 50 crore beneficiaries to be stored on a Central Server for BIG DATA analysis , in order to “ Predict “ WHO might become susceptible to WHICH ailment

and WHEN “

=================================

No need to be secretive ! ……………………………………………………………………………[ 14 Nov 2019 ]

=================================

Corona Patient Case Histories : a Fragmented Database ………………………..[ 30 March 2020 ]

=================================

Tele-Medicine / Tele-Health : a COVID gift ? ………………………………………….. [ 20 May 2020 ]

=================================

Priorities for AI [ Artificial Intelligence ] portal ……………………………………………. [ 31 May 2020 ]

=================================

The Changing Face of Healthcare System …………………………………………………….[ 01 Aug 2020 ]

=================================

Dear Dr HarshVardhanji,

Over the past few years, a number of websites, listed below, ( for storing Medical Records / Consultations ) have come up, which might need to morph and become “ Mirror Images “ of the Government Portal . I urge you to reach-out to them and persuade them to form with your Ministry, a PUBLIC – PRIVATE partnership

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 18 Aug 2020

These are :

http://www.wrizto.com/

https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/industry/health?rtc=1

https://www.driefcase.com/Pages/home.aspx

https://www.reclica.com/

https://www.practo.com/

https://doxper.com/home/

https://mapmyhealth.in/

https://www.75health.com/

=================================