Digital transformation of the public health system connecting all government hospitals in the State through a user-friendly software will be completed in two years, improving the quality of health care delivery, Minister for Health Veena George has said.
She was speaking after inaugurating the prize announcement ceremony of ‘Hack 4 Health by eHealth,’ a virtual hackathon, through videoconference on Tuesday.
The Minister said the State’s Health Department had created a globally acclaimed brand following concerted efforts of decades, but the task on hand now was to improve the quality of services further by leveraging modern technology.
The hackathon, she said, was held with the aim of using technology to improve treatment facilities. It would motivate many start-ups to come up with the best solutions for the benefit of the State’s health sector.
The 48-hour hackathon was organised by eHealth under the Health Department and the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (K-DISC), in association with the Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM), to get the best solutions for eight problem statements identified by the Health Department.
The KSUM had shortlisted around 68 start-ups for the hackathon, and eight of them emerged winners. Acutrotechnologies, EXPRESSbase Systems, Qkopy, Lares.AI, and Waggle LAB, bagged the first five places respectively, by scoring top marks in the evaluation. These five start-ups will be awarded a grant of Rs.1 lakh each. Linsys Innovations, Bagmo, and AIMed Solutions are the other three winners.
Meanwhile, all the eight start-ups will get opportunities to associate themselves with the future activities of K-DISC, eHealth, and KSUM. K-DISC will take the projects through the emerging technologies initiative and try to implement the projects in the Health Department.
K.M. Abraham, Executive Vice-Chairperson, K-DISC, in his presidential address, said the State was in the middle of becoming a leader in health electronics and health application platforms. K-DISC and eHealth were collaborating on three major projects: real-time retinal image quality assessment and feedback generation using artificial intelligence (AI), blood bank facility at General Hospital and associated blood storage centre; and block chain-enabled vaccine coverage analysis. The hackathon was a continuation of that partnership, he added.
Rajan N. Khobragade, Principal Secretary, Health, and Chairman, eHealth Kerala, delivered the keynote address on ‘Technology intervention in Health department’. John M. Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, KSUM; Mohammed Y. Safirulla, Project Director, eHealth; and Vinod Raj V., technology manager, eHealth, were present.
