With an aim to strengthen co-innovation between healthcare startups and industry members and accelerate the process of establishing an accessible and technologically advanced healthcare infrastructure, NATHEALTH-Healthcare Federation of India, in collaboration with TiE Mumbai, with IQVIA as knowledge partners and Healthwire as digital media partners, has launched its initiative ‘Reimagining Healthcare: Industry-Startup Interface Series’. The initiative was announced through a webinar on 6th August 2021 and is set to serve as an effective and credible interface that facilitates meaningful partnerships between the healthcare industry and the startup community.
Speaking about the initiative, Dr. Harsh Mahajan, President, NATHEALTH said, “It is the need of the hour to innovate in the healthcare system in India especially in the post-COVID era. Less capacity of testing, inadequacy in skilled healthcare workforce, infrastructural insufficiency and inefficient management is some of the gaps that exist in the Indian healthcare ecosystem. As we prioritise the accessible and affordable healthcare ecosystem in India, the conversation needs to be driven towards expanding India’s health infrastructure by harnessing technologies and innovations through an active and meaningful collaboration between the start-up community and industry. NATHEALTH with its industry connect eco system focus can really lead to development and success of pathbreaking innovation in the healthcare sector of India and will ensure birth of many more unicorns. Covid-19 pandemic may have sparked off innovation, but the key is to sustain this entrepreneurial mindset, in the long run, to address the existing challenges through meaningful collaboration between the startup community and the industry.”
According to Mr. Amit Mookim, Managing Director, IQVIA, South Asia and President, TiE Mumbai “The onset of Coronavirus has fueled the digitization in every sphere. In order to overcome multitude of healthcare challenges, augmenting health infra and digital health are the key focus areas. There is immense opportunity to re-imagine this sector with disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, healthcare aggregators that are key to improving access to quality care. There is a need to develop citizen centric and consent based digitized health data and maintaining transparency of information is crucial to ensure better patient outcome. NATHEALTH has partnered with TiE Mumbai which empowers startups with knowledge and expertise to adapt to the fast-changing needs of the post-COVID era to increase access and efficiency of healthcare delivery.”
The Renal Project working in the area of dialysis management; V Engage working in the area of teleconsultation and telemonitoring; Meradoc working in the area of telemedicine access; CanceRX providing clinical support for oncology and Bynocs which provides a software to accurately diagnose binocular vision anomalies and works for related therapies – were the few start-ups that participated in the event and shared successful collaborative model with the industry that have been implemented so far. These startups highlighted the need for better collaboration between the industry and the startups in order to pace up the momentum of innovation in healthcare. The emphasis was on digitization taking a front seat during COVID and how with the help of technology, Indian healthcare has been able to deliver health services in remote parts in the country. The interaction between the industry leaders and the entrepreneurs charted a way forward for Indian health sector to expand the infrastructure and ensure better patient outcome with the help of Artificial Intelligence, IoT, big data analysis, telemedicine and teleconsultation.
Ms. Eshika Arora from NATHEALTH Innovation forum presented a report based on an extensive research undertaken with various healthcare providers highlighting the potential for co-innovation between the industry and the startup ecosystem to address the gaps in healthcare capacity, quality, and access. The other industry leaders who attended and spoke at the webinar include Mr. Amit Mookim, MD at IQVIA South Asia and President, TiE Mumbai; Dr. Om Manchanda, MD at Dr. Lal Path Labs, Ms. Meenakshi Nevatia, MD at Stryker India Pvt Ltd; Mr. Harshad Reddy, Director-Operations, Apollo Proton Cancer Centre; Dr. Vidur Mahajan, AD at Mahajan Imaging Pvt Ltd; Mr. Anurag Saxena, Principal and Head – PPG Business, South Asia at IQVIA, Mr. Naveen Raju, Executive Director, TiE Mumbai and Mr. Siddhartha Bhattacharya, Secretary General – NATHEALTH.
The one-day virtual event brought together top healthcare industry leaders and start-up organizations to reimagine India’s present healthcare scenario to build resilience towards future emergencies and pandemics. This industry-startup interface series has been organized to present opportunities for startup organizations to network and collaborate through industry tie-ups on corporate partnerships. Through technological innovations, this startup interface will pave the way forward for bringing solutions to the existing unmet needs of the healthcare industry in India.
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