ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

How Much Tech in Healthcare is Too Much? Where to Draw the Line?

The advent of technology in healthcare brings with it the good, the bad and the ugly.

Published
Fit
3 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

Many of you would recall the long post-operative period suffered by your elderly family member after an abdominal surgery like gall bladder removal or an eye surgery like cataract. Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in healthcare. The same surgery now takes just about a day in the hospital, all put together.

In the good old days, one would have to bear weeks of having to wear dark glasses and barely manage day-to-day activities until the thick glasses were given about six weeks after the cataract surgery. Now, with the new technology aided implants, you can get operated in the morning and start reading a book in the afternoon.

Life has become much easier and pain free with joint implants wherein the diseased joint is replaced, be it knee or hip. The list is endless.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

Advantages of Health Tech Are Many

Enter information technology enabled services and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and you have a whole new horizon panning out in healthcare.

The advent of technology in healthcare brings with it the good, the bad and the ugly.
Image is for representational purposes only.
(Photo: iStock)

From patients scheduling appointments themselves through apps and doctors managing the OT list efficiently, to serving food to patients that is well matched with their choice and the prescribed diet, a whole new vista has opened.

Gone are the days when for every abdominal surgery you will need to give a big incision. Enter endoscopy and you have keyhole surgery for the most complex procedures.

And now you have robotic surgery where, away from the OT table, the surgeon, sitting in front of a console, manages to do the surgery by controlling four robotic arms.

Advantages of robotic surgery are many and include more accurate surgery especially in difficult to reach places in the body with conventional surgery, far less pain, less chances of infection and far less blood loss and shorter stay in the hospital.

0

But the Problems Are Aplenty Too

The advent of technology in healthcare brings with it the good, the bad and the ugly.

Not everything is hunky dory though; all this all comes at a price. The robot itself is very expensive.

Further, robotic surgery is not for every kind of surgical ailment.

In one of the studies, which had to be shelved midway because of negative outcomes, it was found that people with cervical cancer had more chances of recurrence and died earlier when they underwent minimally invasive robotic surgery as compared to traditional surgery.

In another study, that was carried out by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center, it was found that 144 deaths, 1,391 injuries and 8,061 device malfunctions were recorded out of a total of more than 1.7 million robotic procedures carried out between January 2000 and December 2013.

This was based on reports submitted by hospitals, patients, device manufacturers and others to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). And the study notes that the true number could be higher.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD
But a far bigger fallout has been at the emotional level and there appears to be a growing disconnect between the doctor and the patient.

A case in point is the recent announcement of impending death of a terminally sick patient in England by a doctor via a robot which walks in to the room of the patient.

It becomes all the more important in the Indian context, as in a culture where patients traditionally see a doctor as a revered figure, an ‘expression less’ robot announcing a bad news may just be ‘beaten up’ on its first appearance. Robotic communication under such circumstances is sure to hurt sensibilities in India because in healthcare, human interface is perceived to be probably the most important ingredient.

Another area of concern for healthcare, counter-intuitively is ‘Dr Google’. People tend to use this AI-supported technology to diagnose themselves and get the drugs delivered at home or online or even over the counter at their friendly neighbourhood chemist – and land themselves in a mess.

Artificial intelligence is fine but emoting is not the humanoid robot’s cup of tea.

(Dr Ashwini Setya is a Gastroenterologist and Programme Director in Delhi’s Max Super Speciality Hospital. His endeavor is to help people lead a healthy life without medication. He can be reached at ashwini.setya@gmail.com)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from fit

Topics:  Healthcare   Technology 

Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×