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Hands-on cardiac care? Well, virtually
This is a heart doctor with his head in the right place. Devi Prasad Shetty’s Naryana Hrudalaya is a heart center that leverages the latest in computing and medical technology and uses it to perform remote-assisted surgeries in places as far-flung as the North-East.
The Rs 100 crore hospital is ’75 per cent paperless, according to Dr Shetty. With billing, dischange summary and medical information stored in electronic format and procedures like anglograms and angloplast having been computerised.
Dr Shatty is also banking heavily on telemedicine to transform the healthcare system in the country to effectively deliver healthcare to the masses.
“Take the example of Tripura, where very little healthcare facilities exist. But we can make a difference. You cannot expect a heart patient from Agartala to travel to Culcutta. And not many cardiologists may want to live there. Here we fill the gap with telemedicine by connecting remote areas with this hospital in Bangalore,” he says.
On the telemedicine initiative, Dr Shetty says: “Initially. We used to conduct heart camps in remote areas. We used to conduct heart camps in remote areas. We have done hundreds of camps. But, what happens in between? So, we decided to be there virtually. When a patient gets to see me on the TV set in front of him. Introduce my self saying that I’m responsible for your heartcare. You can imagine the degree of confidencel”
He beleves that technology has been the significant differentiator in this business, sometimes between life and death: “In case of a heart attack, the first six hours after the attack are crucial to save a patient In that period, you require modern diagnostic gadgets and experts to interpret those gadgets Then you require a hi-tech coronary care unit. This is nothing but an interaction between man and machine (technology).”
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