Source: Google Images
The world has taken aback through the global pandemic of Novel Coronavirus or Covid19. With the spontaneous outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic worldwide, most of us are self-quarantined and taking precautionary measures. The situation is further amplified with an ongoing economic slowdown.
However, our healthcare industries, startups and front-line medical professionals & staff haven't taken a step back in dealing with the pandemic through innovative healthcare measures that can effectively combat and procure ailing patients from Coronavirus outbreak.
While there have been lockdowns all around the world, the healthtech startups are surging new ways to by working on different ways patients can opt for virtual OPDs using teleconsultation modules, where doctor-patient communication can happen remotely.
To combat this outbreak, several tech giants are reaching out to healthtech startups and industries with effective measures that can reduce the acceleration of this pandemic spread across several countries.
Let us look at some of the steps taken by prominent tech giants to effectively combat COVID19.
Microsoft has recently announced that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is using the company's Azure-run healthcare chatbot service to power a COVID-19 assessment bot that can quickly assess symptoms and suggest next steps, whether that means seeing a doctor or staying at home.
On the other hand, tech giant, Amazon's AWS has committed $20 million to fund a diagnostic development unit, in an effort to develop a faster and more affordable test for the virus.
IBM has partnered with the White House to provide supercomputing power to researchers trying to understand and stop the spread of COVID-19.
These tech giants have been leveraging the latest technologies such as AI, ML, and IoT for effective and calculative measures to tackle COVID 19 in full spring. There are several machine learning experts across the globe who are working towards the data segregation and classification methodologies that will help in identifying and classifying the country’s population based on their distinctive features (age, sex), symptoms and past travel history.
Similarly, the World Health Organization has been using interactive live maps to track the potential tracking of coronavirus cases around the world in real-time. The zoomable blue and white map provides a search option to look for country-specific COVID-19 cases, including the number of infected, mortality and recovered. These interactive maps provide users with visual representation of the number of cases, and the trend curve of cumulative cases in the form of charts.
How HealthTech Startups are disrupting the COVID19 Space?
Source: Google Images
COVID19 has taken the entire world by storm, since there are no vaccines and medicines available yet for this indispensable chronic outbreak. But, then, there are healthtech startups, organization and government healthcare bodies, who are disrupting the COVID19 space through innovative ideas, measures, tools, and techniques that are aiding to combat COVID19.
Indian startups like Practo, Dozee, Medlife are stepping up to help people fight COVID-19. They have been following government guidelines to serve the medicinal needs through telemedicines.
There are about 70 percent customers, who are chronic patients and are in need of their medicines frequently and are more at risk, it is necessary to ensure that supply is not disrupted and all of its orders are fulfilled.
Not only the telemedicine sector, there are several healthtech startups or companies who have been surging the needs of making doctors available on call, video,and online chats. Healthcare Apps like Practo, are connecting millions of patients with doctors via call, messages, and video calling so that they get proper medical attention and clarify their doubts from the comfort of their homes.
Practo App
There are leading healthcare software development companies, who have been surging the increased demands in the telemedicine sector during this lockdown phase.
There are several healthcare applications developed by healthcare startups or healthcare application development companies who are curbing the needs of medical attention that a symptom or an illness deserves without overcrowding hospitals and clinics, that will sincerely aid in curbing down the number of cases of Novel Coronavirus.
It’s a great time for healthtech startups to invest in healthcare application development, as the numbers are surging in the multiples of 3x and 4x to combat the preliminary needs of medicinal facilities in one click.
The government owned medical bodies across the world have been addressing the needs to reduce the impact of Coronavirus in the nation, while following the governmental guidelines, policies, and protocols.
Let’s have a look at some of the reforming norms, steps, and procedures followed by government owned bodies across the world:
Washington State's Department of Health is using digital workflow company ServiceNow's platform to manage its emergency response operations via an app, which has now been made available to all government entities at no charge.
ServiceNow
A great initiative in the healthtech domain, curbing the issue of overlooked responses in the time outbreak. The application includes features like Emergency Outreach, Emergency Self Report, and Emergency Exposure Management.
The UK's government has been working with researchers from King's College University in London, where they have collaborated with nutrition advice start-up Zoe to create an app that can track users for symptoms of the virus.
Nutrition App: ZOE
This app aims to help researchers identify the speed of COVID-19, as well as higher-risk areas and individuals most at risk.
Helping Hands:
Healthtech startups are coming forward as it is the best time for them to step in to solve critical issues while avoiding contact.
Start-ups and scale-ups, in fact, have responded in no time to governments' call for help. A health service provider Babylon Health, for instance, which provides remote consultations with healthcare professionals, has launched a new feature within its app to update patients with information about the virus, as well as to check symptoms and, if necessary, fast-track them to a GP or hospital.
Healthtech entrepreneurs are taking it upon themselves to equip countries with tools to tackle the virus. Indeed, a great time, for healthtech startups to initiate and innovate effective measures and healthtech applications to combat COVID19.
The unprecedented challenges that the COVID-19 virus has brought upon governments and societies around the world have already prompted many countries to place much of their hope in the hands of the technology industry.
