Narayana Health, Cisco offer affordable diagnostics services

Bengaluru, Sep 7 (IANS) Healthcare provider Narayana Health has joined hands with US-based global technology company Cisco to deliver affordable specialty healthcare services in remote parts of the country, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The association will enable Narayana Healthcare to offer diagnostic services at a cost that is affordable with a high-quality, high-value patient experience in the areas of neurology (brain & nervous system), nephrology (kidney & renal disease), oncology (all types of cancers) and cardiology (heart related ailments) over cisco virtual expertise digital solution.

The cisco virtual expertise digital solution will help patients living in remote parts of the country to connect with Narayana Healthcare specialists conveniently and efficiently.

"Our association with Cisco will help Narayana Health to move closer to realise its vision of becoming a digital hospital and deliver advanced specialised healthcare to both rural as well as urban populations," said Dr. Devi Shetty, Chairman at Narayana Health.

The digital solution will also enable real time telemetry of medical device data, audio, high-definition two way video, ECG, other vitals and radiology, analytics of medical reports and a web-based portal which supports mobile end points.

A detailed "clinical examination" and review of all investigations are now possible in a seamless manner with the option of recording the entire interaction, the statement read.

"Using highly secure medical-grade networks with immersive visual experiences we can virtualise scarce resources including doctors, nurses and paramedics and provide access to specialist consultants in remote areas," added V.C. Gopalratnam, President, (IT and CIO - APJ&C) Chief of Strategy, Planning & Operations, Cisco India.

Healthcare providers in India face many challenges as the doctor-patient ratio in India is 1:1,674 against the World Health Organisation (WHO) norm of 1:1,000.

The lack of overall healthcare infrastructure also poses a huge challenge for the delivery of healthcare to rural areas.

Nearly 70 per cent of India's population lives in rural areas, but 80 per cent of the total available doctors live in urban areas and patients often have to travel long distances at great cost to get quality healthcare.