Philips launches India’s 1st Future Health Index

New Delhi: Healthcare technology company Royal Philips launched its first edition of India’s Future Health Index (FHI), a research-based platform.

The platform helps to determine the readiness of countries to address global health challenges and build sustainable, fit for purpose, national health systems. The focus of this data is on the crucial role of technologies, access to healthcare services and the efficiency of the healthcare system.

Commenting on the launch, Philips India Healthcare President Rohit Sathe says, “The FHI study confirms that India has a shortage of skilled healthcare professionals along with a low number of hospital beds. It also provides us with excellent insights about the awareness that healthcare practitioners and the population, have about the role of technologies in aiding healthcare delivery."

This readiness to adopt technology can be a key driver in delivering treatment to patients in tier II & III cities in India. This, in addition to government’s increased focus on providing healthcare access to all, will serve as an impetus to Philips in innovating solutions to deliver connected healthcare, he added.

According to FHI, lack of access, due to low skilled physician density and a low number of hospital beds, impede value the most. It also found that despite a lower-than-average data analytics score, Indian healthcare professionals are open to the use of futuristic technology (AI, virtual reality) in healthcare, even more so than the general population.

Healthcare professionals could become key promoters of connected care technologies, as they consider themselves highly knowledgeable about connected care devices and believe in a future where everyone owns them to manage their health, potentially boosting data collection and analytics in India, the FHI revealed.