Times of India
February 23, 2024
Mumbai: From the next academic year, medical interns will have to grasp another subject – the A to Z of digital health. Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS), which oversees 450 medical colleges and 40,000 medical students, will launch the country’s first foundation course for digital health.
“Maharashtra will become the first state to introduce digital health as a formal course for medical students,’’ said MUHS vice-chancellor Lt Gen Madhuri Kanitkar (retd).
The course, developed along with not-for-profit Koita Foundation, will not only cover hospital management information systems, electronic medical records, but also the use of sensors and wearables in gathering health data. Modules on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare will also be covered. The digital health foundation course will be launched by governor Mahesh Bais medical education minister Hasan Mushrif on Friday. “The course will not be mandatory, but participants will earn credits upon completion of the course,’’ said officials.
Dr Kanitkar said the course has been developed keeping in mind that the future of medicine is going to be digitalised. “We felt that we need a curriculum that will make young people understand why digital health is needed. Digital health doesn’t mean extra data entry work, but is an automation process that will help medicine by capturing data from different places,’’ she said.
She added that the course will not only be open to interns, but also for nurses as well as existing medical teachers. Rizwan Koita of Koita Foundation said, "Given India’s population, technology can help make health affordable and accessible."
As the central govt rolls out Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, it’s important to drive adoption of digital health. “It is critical to increase the basic digital health literacy of doctors and front-line healthcare workers,’’ said Koita. The foundation has collaborated with institutions such as IIT Bombay, Tata Memorial Hospital and National Cancer Grid.