COVID has accelerated change

COVID-19 has clearly shown that no health system is an island, and every nation has much to tell and learn about the way it is managed. In our facility-based healthcare system, the COVID-19 experience unmasked major shortcomings and inflexibility. The economical, organizational, and safety issues that have undermined healthcare systems for decades have shed a light on them.

This crisis has provided a remarkable opportunity for our healthcare delivery system to be thoroughly reimagined and transformed, co-created with hospitals and focused on a modern, more decentralized model, assisted by technology and advanced logistics. As the tailwinds of increased prices, consumerism, and technology drive us to a new future, this transition has already begun and will intensify and reach a tipping point. Around the same time, new programs are helping to provide both lifesaving services for those immediately affected and routine care for patients who have been disrupted by daily scheduled visits to their providers. These shifts include the design and construction of hospitals, the training of healthcare staff, the procurement and inventory management of supplies for critical care equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE), and the best settings for the delivery of care. Before the pandemic was announced, some of these improvements were under way and are now likely to be accelerated.

Providers’ potential success can be determined by their ability to adapt to the next standard, cope with a particular set of new or expanded obstacles, and seize new opportunities at speed.

At Shalby, we agreed to concentrate in specific areas in order to work effectively in the post-covid period:

Digital care. COVID-19 has contributed to the widespread adoption of digital healthcare technologies by health care systems and organisations around the world. The digital front door has become the only front door for patients in many countries to access healthcare services. We have also developed a tool to provide our services to the patients virtually. Telemedicine or telehealth is not a new concept. Yet, in the early years, acceptance was sluggish for both patients and providers. The COVID-19 crisis has led to unprecedented progress and has made virtual health more widespread. Currently we are providing Video consultation over an app and website. Through this medium, more than 200 specialists and super specialist doctors can be met virtually on our platform. The journey of the patient begins with an app or online and is then redirected to the optimal treatment environment.

Flexible infrastructure. We are in the process of creating more intensive care beds in our hospitals to meet the future needs. The expansion of ICUs shall be taking place on same floors of the institute only. The purpose of keeping ICU beds in same location is to maximize infection control by centralized ICUs rather than spread through the hospital. This centralization will produce the benefits of concentrating knowledge and capturing (not just size) economies of all kinds and can also provide the ability to exploit remote monitoring technology. Strict infection control measures have been introduced to prevent the spread in hospitals, including the separation of COVID and non-COVID patients. More importance will be given in the future to the capacity to quickly convert regular beds to intensive care beds.

Home care service. Homecare is an effort to change the perspective of primary home health care facilities in India, breaking the barriers of conventional feelings and using skilled home health services to recover patients from disease and disabilities easily and conveniently. Psychology is the most significant explanation why homecare helps in quicker recovery. In new environments away from home, individuals may experience stress when healing, even though they are provided with good treatment. The feeling of lack of independence is an addition to this tension. Moving away from home can lead to extra stress, and the healing process can be delayed by this. Homecare provides people with the kind of flexibility and choices they do not get elsewhere.