Given the alarming increase in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in India, even among youth, experts have called for raising awareness, focus on prevention, and efficient management. Digital health has come as strong support for the efficient management and better clinical outcome of CVD. Experts point out that India has now realized the power of digital in healthcare and along with population health management, it has shown huge potential in improving awareness, prevention, management, and clinical outcomes.

For CVD, prevention, early detection through robust screening, and appropriate management are three critical areas that need serious attention. The pandemic has accelerated the pace of digital integration. Healthcare services have become tech-enabled and are expected to grow enormously in future. The Pandemic has provided further momentum to digital health. Even the launch of the Ayushman Bharat-Digital Mission by the Prime Minister two days ahead of World Heart Day ( September 29) is a testament to this.

Dr Sumana Arora, Vice President-Clinical Services, DayToDay Health India (DTDHI) said, “ Healthcare start-ups have led innovation in digital health through the efficient use of tech-enabled services whether in the management of hospital information systems or management of NCDs like diabetes or cardiovascular disease management. Digital tools like Cloud-based hospital information management systems help hospitals optimize productivity, streamline operations and reduce inventory leakages. The management of cardiovascular diseases too has become more efficient and patients with cardiac issues can be effectively managed via digital health.”  

“New-age IT tools like big data, analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) among others are empowering health systems incrementally. Similarly, with the Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing, doctors can track and monitor the vital health parameters of heart patients at any given point in time,” Dr Sumana added.

With the launch of the Digital Mission, now, people will get a unique digital health ID that will contain all the health records of the person. This move will surely help providers also to offer efficient and effective delivery of services.

According to Dr Mangesh Danej, Consultant- Cardiologist, Jupiter Hospital, Pune, the rising burden of Non-communicable Diseases such as Cardiovascular has called for innovative ways to deal with them. “We have started adopting new-age tech-enabled solutions to prevent, diagnose and treat heart patients effectively. Cardiologists have been leveraging digital tools and solutions for better clinical outcomes as they are associated with interventions and computations along with imaging. Apart from data, implantable cardiac devices are also considered digital interventions. For prevention, several mobile apps have proved their efficacy in terms of monitoring heart health parameters. Going forward, digital health would be bringing in more innovative solutions to combat cardiovascular diseases,” said Dr Danej. 

World Heart Day 2021, with a focus on digital interventions, would usher in a new healthcare ecosystem that would be dominated by new-age tech-enabled services combined with the advancement in medical science