Manipal Hospitals partners with Google to provide virtual patient care services

Manipal: The private healthcare chain, Manipal hospitals, and Google Cloud have entered into a partnership to enable virtual care services in its hospitals across the country as part of its measures to improve patient care and the efficiency of the hospital chain network.

Using Google Cloud's technology, Manipal hospitals would enable virtual care services across all its hospitals and would work towards setting up a new e-pharmacy platform and a remote patient monitoring system.

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The hospital would be using the Amwell platform, which is a digital care delivery enablement platform to implement virtual visits making their services accessible in those places where the hospital is not set up.

Amwell is a United States-based platform connecting providers, insurers, and patients globally for affordable and good quality care reports the Economic Times.

Dilip Jose, MD & CEO, of Manipal Hospitals, as per a media report in the Business Standard, said, "Over the past two years, there has been an extensive focus on the digital transformation of healthcare. The government, private hospitals and health-tech start-ups have focused on creating digital solutions for the efficient delivery of healthcare. The partnership with Google Cloud will enable us to solve some of our most complex medical issues using innovative technology, better anticipate the needs of the people we serve, and improve access to care, whenever and wherever patients need us."

Karthik Rajagopal, COO, Manipal Hospitals said, "This is help drive penetration of Manipal's clinical healthcare services in Tier II and III markets while making it convenient for both clinicians and patients and allow us to deliver services in markets where we are not yet present." Rajagopal observed, "The partnership is critical to further clinical excellence of our healthcare system in markets with inequitable access to quality healthcare. Today, even the remotest areas of our country have access to the internet and smartphones. This, along with the penetration of Google Cloud in our country provides us the opportunity to deliver high-quality care in markets that we are not present in."

Google's multichannel conversational AI experiences technology would be made use by the hospital for purposes like appointment booking, searching for doctors, and other important patient tasks.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, Rajagopal said that the new technology would help in better patient convenience & triaging and geographical expansion.

Bikram Singh Bedi, Managing Director at Google Cloud India said, "Data-driven innovation is growing exponentially in healthcare, and this collaboration will help Manipal Hospitals use data, AI, and machine learning (ML) to improve patient experiences and outcomes." Bedi added, "With Google Cloud's technology and Manipal's healthcare expertise, we have a unique opportunity to help the hospital network develop features that can dramatically improve the lives of people across the country."

Back in March this year, the hospital had announced a partnership with ConnectedLife built with Google Cloud which would make use of wearable technology to monitor patient progress after high-risk surgeries. The Bengaluru-based hospital is already running a flagship facility, providing remote monitoring to patients who have gone through angioplasty and joint replacement surgeries. Rajagopal said, "Right now it will remain a 'phygital' model, and I think that's the way it will be until the surgeons and the patients get extremely comfortable with going ahead and getting all their complete consultation online."

Rajagopal also mentioned that the medical group are hoping to expand across multiple specialities and other centres within the Manipal ecosystem by January 2023.

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