India’s National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has announced its collaboration with the apex healthcare industry body NATHEALTH.
The partnership is with NASSCOM’s Centre of Excellence for the Internet of Things (CoE IoT) and will leverage the benefits that IoT and AI can bring to the healthcare sector. They aim to deploy emerging technologies, to ensure the better delivery of healthcare.
The president of NASSCOM said that this partnership would coin the two bodies as pioneers in the healthcare space, and with its combined resources, hopes to witness a significant contribution and development in the healthcare systems accessible in the country.
With the partnership, the agency can strengthen its potential as an innovation hub and bring about a transformation in varied sectors across industries.
Through this collaboration, NATHEALTH and the CoE have identified five major areas of collaboration that will promote efficient, accessible and easily available technology-enabled products, and solutions for the citizens of India.
Digital Adoption by Healthcare Industry
NASSCOM will work with members and member organisations of NATHEALTH to improve technology adoption through co-creation programs. Focussing on IoT, AI, ML, DL, robotics, AR/VR and blockchain technologies that have a positive impact on improving healthcare in India.
Universal Healthcare
The agencies will jointly work with central and state government organisations, NGOs and corporate CSR Teams to identify healthcare projects that have a significant impact on public health. They will work towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and support the government in achieving healthcare goals.
Policy Advocacy Initiatives
The agencies will jointly work on collecting the voice of the industry on various policy and regulatory topics that directly or indirectly impact healthcare delivery in India. Where needed and feasible, represent the industry voice with the policymakers in the government, with a view to improve the regulatory environment in India. For example, DISHA, EHR2016, and the National Healthcare Blueprint.
Thought Leadership
The agencies will collaborate on joint health-tech events across India to drive change management across the healthcare delivery industry, enable peer group collaboration, panel discussions, special workshops, and presentations.
Tech-Enabled Innovation
The agencies will jointly work in curating and seeding tech-enabled innovations to accelerate India’s drive towards universal health coverage and also create pathways for scale.
A representative of NATHEALTH said that they agreed to form a partnership to equip the future of Indian healthcare through the effective usage of technology enabling growth and advancement in the healthcare industry. It aims to provide support to innovation through co-creation programmes that focus on IoT, AI, robotics, and blockchain technologies.
NATHEALTH and NASSCOM have come together to innovate and create scalable models for healthcare delivery. This is an area where India can truly excel and be a model for many countries. Healthcare is ready for technology disruption, another representative said.
The joint initiative will collectively function as an interface between the industry and government on various policy and regulatory topics.
Through this agreement, health start-ups can leverage access to capital, mentorship, industry partnerships, and technology support. The collaboration will also help them scale newer markets.
