THT | Digital healthcare application | Quality of life and well-being
Dr. Vineesh Indira Chandran, PhD
29 November 2022
In many of today’s problems, finding the root cause is always one of the most challenging parts. Intriguingly, the cause and effect in our healthcare system is very well known, but is the solution adequate? NO. As much as we understand and appreciate the importance of frequent Patient-Doctor interaction in improving personalized care, the low doctor-population ratio is a constant challenge to it. According to the report tabled by Hon. Union minister of health and family welfare, Mansukh Mandaviya (https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/indian-parliament/shri-mansukh-mandaviya), in Rajya Sabha on April 5, 2022, the current doctor-population ratio is 1.834:1000. Although this satisfies the WHO promulgated desirable ratio of 1:1000, the frequency of COVID-19-like pandemics, increased migration of skilled health workers to Western countries (https://www.who.int/india/news/detail/12-07-2017-migration-of-doctors-and-nurses-from-india), and the inevitable population growth in India (https://censusindia.gov.in/) will result in a consistent and organic erosion in the density of active healthcare workforce to persons. Given this scenario, the prescient initiative by the Government of India in creating a conducive atmosphere to launch digital health tech solutions in India by 2015 accelerated the transformation of public healthcare services (https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1845845&https://www.makeinindia.com/national-digital-health-mission), resulting in the near-successful campaign against COVID-19 (https://www.mygov.in/covid-19/).
Management of lifestyle modifications is not effective: a digital wound
There may have not been another health calamity that has tested the robustness of digital health tech solutions, since its advent, like the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 period, the use of health tech solutions, particularly virtual consultations, increased by astronomical proportions. Whilst this is indeed encouraging, it has also brought forward memories of an old wound. Lifestyle modifications (https://www.nature.com/subjects/lifestyle-modification) are the mainstay treatment methodology for chronic diseases, but the lack of a collaborative ecosystemic approach that partners physicians, allied health professionals (physiotherapists, dietitians, nutritionists, nurses), and the patient have significantly dented the effectiveness of current treatment management plans. A replica of the systematic mismanagement of chronic diseases is reemerging through digital health tech solutions. Currently, there is a multitude of mobile-based applications accompanied by health tech devices that promise personalized care and cater to specific lifestyle niches of patient care, but their imprudent approach in not providing an interdependent set of tools under the identity of a healthcare ecosystem is either deterring patients from using it or not motivating them enough to ensure regular use, consequently impacting personalized care.
Our ‘startup’ solution
We are attempting to introduce a solution through a mobile-based application (Total Health Tracker) that will focus on empowering patients to independently manage their lifestyle modifications. We plan to achieve this by creating a healthcare ecosystem that will provide patients and healthcare specialists (including physicians and allied healthcare professionals) with a comprehensive set of tools to engage reciprocally to track and modify the diet, physical activity routine, and other determinants of patient care on a regular or an ad hoc basis. We believe that Total Health Tracker will add significant value to wholesome patient care and enable healthcare authorities to effectively tackle the challenge of chronic disease management.
The writer is an Academic Researcher based at the University of Southern Denmark (Odense, Denmark), who is also the Founder and CEO of Total Health Tracker Pvt. Ltd. Contact Dr. Vineesh Indira Chandran directly at vichandran@health.sdu.dk (+45 71416601) or through www.totalhealthtracker.com for partnering with the Total Health Tracker program.