Covid-19 has left a profound impact on both our personal as well as professional lives. Due to the conditions imposed by this global health crisis, we are also witnessing a rapid shift towards digitally powered healthcare solutions.
Technologies such as Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Telehealth are working in tandem to make the delivery of health care via digital channels a reality. Such initiatives had been around for some time, but the pandemic acted as a catalyst.
In the new digital healthcare paradigm, the Cloud will be playing two pivotal roles. Firstly, we expect that in order to deliver quality health care via digital channels, you need to have seamless access to a patient’s medical records and past history.
This is where the central and secure storage capabilities of the Cloud come into play. The other factor where the role of Cloud is super important is the delivery of telehealth and telemedicine platforms themselves.
By taking this segment of digital health over to the Cloud, healthcare providing institutions will be able to seamlessly connect millions of patients with thousands of healthcare professionals, regardless of whether they are in physical proximity or on another continent.
Granted that the medical procedures requiring direct intervention by healthcare professionals will still need physical contact, but there are many stages before this where the Cloud, AI and Telehealth can do wonders.
In addition to Cloud Computing, the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be pivotal in identifying and tracking the patterns of various diseases or outbreaks. Some healthcare providers have already commissioned AI algorithms that can auto-detect Covid-19 in scans.
The role of AI in the near future may also include recommendations or prescription of drugs and remedies, based on the symptomatic information shared by a patient. This step is still a bit far from becoming a reality, but one that’s in the right direction nonetheless.
For the domain of digital health, the Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a “blessing in disguise”. The progress that would otherwise have taken years to materialize has been achieved in a matter of weeks and months.
We expect that Cloud Computing solutions will be playing a central role in this move towards digital healthcare. This journey towards digital health will indeed make it much more accessible and affordable for the masses.
