IMC Special Focus Track

mHealth Track

Digital Technologies as an Enabler for Health Systems Strengthening and Universal Health Coverage.

mHealth As An Enabler For Health Systems Strengthening

Digital Technologies for Health and mobile health tools in particular have immense potential in strengthening health systems for enabling countries to achieve Universal Health Coverage and ensuring health for all. Digital Technologies has also been recognized as one of the key contributors towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

It is widely recognized that India is a leader in implementing digital health interventions for health systems strengthening and has played a key role in positioning mhealth on the global health agenda.

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India led the Digital Health Resolution in the 71st World Health Assembly in May 2018 at Geneva and highlighted global attention to the potential, challenges and opportunity related to Digital Health Technology and the need for collaboration on the issue globally.

India successfully hosted the Fourth Summit of Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) in February 2019 and the International Digital Health Symposium and exhibition on 27th February, 2019 in collaboration with the World Health Organization. This event was attended by 34 countries. During this meeting, India led the drafting and adoption of the Delhi declaration on digital health.

Delhi Declaration on Digital Health for sustainable development was adopted by the GDHP member countries and India has further developed the National Digital Health Blueprint which outlines the implementation strategies and framework.

The National Digital Health Blueprint articulates an ecosystem vision for India. Given the importance of mobile networks and the role of mobile internet as a key enabler for empowering citizens in accessing essential health services, the mhealth track during the India Mobile Congress 2019 sees the convergence of citizen representatives, healthcare, information technology and communications ecosystem stakeholders along with the governmental agencies. This track aims to articulate a vision for health delivery transformation leveraging mhealth and develop an implementation outline that is multi-sectoral, participatory and envisages serving as the integral backbone and neural network of the national digital health ecosystem.

mHealth Conference Agenda

Health systems face a number of challenges in ensuring that every citizen is able to access the essential health services irrespective of where they live, traditionally labelled as the last mile delivery constraints. In recent years, the telecommunication networks along with drastic reduction in the cost of ownership of mobile phones coupled with highly affordable mobile internet services has resulted in transformation of how most Indians connect with each other and with providers of essential services. This first mile connectivity offered by the mobile telecommunication networks provides an unprecedented opportunity to enable the ecosystems for healthcare transformation. Information asymmetries are a significant contributor to health seeking behaviours, targeted health communications will enable citizens to seek and access healthcare in an empowered manner than ever before. This session will cover the broad aspects of the transformational levers that could be implemented in the Indian and regional settings to enable the health systems towards universal health coverage by strengthening the health systems through the power of technology and innovations.

Objectives

Key Ecosystem enablers identified
Interventions that would support the development and implementation of the Ecosystem
How can telecommunication networks support – expectations from the key stakeholders

Chair: Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY

Moderator: Dr. Ivan George, Johns Hopkins University

Time	Topic	Speaker
10:00 AM	Welcome	Rajan Mathews/Grace Mathews
10:02 AM	India’s Digital Health Vision : Ministerial Address	Hon’ble Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan (TBC)
10:15 AM	Futuristic Mobile Technologies including 5G and its promise for healthcare services delivery	Malcom Johnson, Deputy Secretary General, International Telecommunications Union, Geneva
10:35 AM	Global Surgery and the Neglected Surgical Patient – the palpable promise of technology	Prof. Adrian Park, Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery, Anne Arundel Health System
10:55 AM	Transforming healthcare through technology and enhancing citizen engagement	Ganesh Kathiresan, VP, Digital Healthcare, Reliance Jio
11:05 AM	The vision of affordable healthcare in India, using economies of scale: Opportunities offered by Mobile Health and emerging technologies	Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health
11:25 AM	IT and Telecom infrastructure as the backbone for the first mile connections for health delivery : GOI vision for health delivery transformation	Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY

The National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 had articulated a vision for ‘health and wellbeing for all at all ages. Citizen-centricity, quality of care, improved access and health for all are aspirational goals of the national health policy. The National Digital Health Blueprint 2019 outlines the framework to achieve these goals by leveraging the power of the digital technologies. In the Indian context, a comprehensive and interoperable digital architecture is required as the pivotal pillar in achieving this vision. The National Digital Health Blueprint (NDHB), provides an architectural vision towards building this ecosystem; it further articulates specific guidance on its implementation. Any ecosystem is as efficient as the effectiveness of its individual components. Recognising the need for synergistic approaches towards building this ecosystem, this session will bring key stakeholders from across Government, healthcare delivery establishments, technology and communication networks, the vibrant entrepreneurs and representatives from the end user communities. This session will articulate a roadmap towards how each of these components will contribute towards building this ecosystem.

Objectives

Building blocks for the National Digital Health Ecosystem
Opportunities, roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder
What immediate next steps as actionable for the ecosystem stakeholders
Policy provisions and potential partnerships initiated

Chair: Dr V K Paul

Moderator: Dr Oommen John, George Institute for Global Health

Time	Topic	Speaker
11:30 AM	Overview of Health Systems Transformation in India and role of technology	Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog (TBC)
11:40 AM	WHO Digital Health Guidelines – Implementation experiences from LMICs	Dr. Alain Labrique, Director, JHU Global mHealth Initiative, Johns Hopkins University
12:00 PM	Achieving Universal Health Coverage : Innovations for Ayushman Bharat/ PM JAY services delivery	Dr. Indu Bhusan, CEO, National Health Authority (TBC)
12:10 PM	Emerging Technologies and healthcare transformation – implications for NDHB	Preetam Maloor, International Telecommunications Union, Geneva
12:25 PM	Using Mobile technologies to save lives	Piyush Tewari, Founder and CEO of Save LIFE Foundation
12:40 PM	Role of the Industry in supporting the Ecosystem and expanding its reach	Gaurav Laroia, Senior Vice President, Biocon
12:55 PM	Innovations for healthcare transformation	Sureshkumar R, CTO CCS India & Digital Incubators at GE-Healthcare
-	Summary and way forward	Representative, MoHFW

Objectives

Key Ecosystem enablers identified
Interventions that would support the development and implementation of the Ecosystem
How can telecommunication networks support – expectations from the key stakeholders

Chair: Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY

Moderator: Dr. Ivan George, Johns Hopkins University

Time	Topic	Speaker
10:00 AM	Welcome	Rajan Mathews/Grace Mathews
10:02 AM	India’s Digital Health Vision : Ministerial Address	Hon’ble Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan (TBC)
10:15 AM	Futuristic Mobile Technologies including 5G and its promise for healthcare services delivery	Malcom Johnson, Deputy Secretary General, International Telecommunications Union, Geneva
10:35 AM	Global Surgery and the Neglected Surgical Patient – the palpable promise of technology	Prof. Adrian Park, Professor and Chairman, Department of Surgery, Anne Arundel Health System
10:55 AM	Transforming healthcare through technology and enhancing citizen engagement	Ganesh Kathiresan, VP, Digital Healthcare, Reliance Jio
11:05 AM	The vision of affordable healthcare in India, using economies of scale: Opportunities offered by Mobile Health and emerging technologies	Dr Devi Shetty, Chairman, Narayana Health
11:25 AM	IT and Telecom infrastructure as the backbone for the first mile connections for health delivery : GOI vision for health delivery transformation	Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY