HP to Expand Cloud-Enabled eHealth Centres in India
HP to Expand Cloud-Enabled eHealth Centres in India
With the idea of delivering quality, reasonably priced healthcare to people residing in remote and inaccessible parts of India, HP (Hewlett-Packard) announced that the firm will be able to expand its cloud-enabled eHealth Centres in India.
The IT major has partnered with Narayana Health for setting up 5 more such health centres in West Bengal and Karnataka. The number of eHCs will now be taken to 20 in the next 18-24 months. HP brings technologies while Narayana Health will implement, operate, manage and run newly established eHealth Centres for provision of primary healthcare facilities and amenities to patients. The aim is also to address healthcare delivery and awareness challenges in Tier-2 and 3 cities.
Indicating that eHCs are cost effective and a viable alternative to traditional healthcare solutions, HP Senior VP and MD (Printing and Personal Systems) Nick Lazaridis has indicated that the firm will use technology and expertise for improving primary healthcare services in remote and inaccessible regions.
Along with NH, HP will provide accessibility and reasonably priced services to patients across the country. The eHC initiative is responsible for the transformation of the existing primary healthcare centres and government run systems commonly lacking the capabilities and staff to provide quality care according to Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi who is the VC, MD and Group CEO of this group. Narayana Health operates 26 hospitals in 16 cities and a hospital at the Grand Caymen.
Ehealth Centres are easily-deployable healthcare facilities powered by the cloud-enabled solutions at HP's centre. The centres are also completely equipped with important medical diagnostic equipment along with open electronic medical records systems. The aim is to connect patients in remote areas who could not previously access healthcare.
The eHealth Centres are housed in shipping containers or existing facilities. Each centre is fully customised and equipped with cloud-integrated diagnostic equipment. It also includes HP workstations and video conferencing. These technologies enable the collection, tracking and analysis of individual and community-wide data such as risk factors and disease patterns as well as regional health-profile monitoring to facilitate real-time surveillance of diseases in certain areas.
Healthcare solution was designed by HP Technology Services in India and developed in partnership with CSIR (Council of Scientific Research and Industrial Research). Leading healthcare providers and NGOs have leveraged the best-of-breed technologies as well as open source solutions.
The first eHealth Centre was established in Chaushala in the year 2012. More than 4000 patients visited this facility in the first 100 days of the operation. There is urgent need for more such facilities in India so that people are able to access crucial healthcare for mental as well as physical ailments.
