ADMH Digital Health Conclave 2021 on ‘Reinventing Healthcare Marketing in the Digital Age: Innovations for the Post-Pandemic Era’ was held on the 28th June 2021and featured two engaging panel discussions by distinguished leaders in the healthcare and corporate sector.
Panels discussed a range of issues relevant to the healthcare industry today such as humanising communication strategies in Healthcare Marketing, the importance of investing in technology for agility and efficient transition into a digital future, leveraging innovation and automation for operational efficiency in healthcare delivery and building a telehealth framework for digital marketing outreach.
The panel was moderated by Jashanjeet Singh– COO Lokmanya Hospital and comprised, Dr K Madan Gopal – Senior Consultant, NITI Aayog, BS Bedi COO, Telemedicine Society of India, Subhajit Mazumdar – Director – Strategic Growth Microsoft India and Dr Deepak Patkar– Director, Nanavati Hospital, Mumbai.
Starting off the discussion, Dr K Madan Gopal remarked, “Telemedicine has come in handy in the pandemic, the main challenge is in the continuity of services. During the pandemic, telemedicine has improved. The release of the Telemedicine Guidelines has paved a way for a telemedicine network. We have to ensure that this network comes together and serve the masses”.
Explaining the steps the government has taken towards strengthening the telemedicine network, BS Bedi, said, “For 20 years we have been working to legalise telemedicine; the pandemic has given telemedicine a boost. There have also been a lot of efforts from the Ministry of Health through the eSanjeevani app. There have been 37 lakh consultations conducted over the eSanjeevani platform”.
Adding to the discussion, Subhajit Mazumder said, “The applications that have been used in telemedicine today have to be more intuitive. It is also important to leverage the vernacular language capability. There must be simplicity that will help to scale up operations”.
Dr Deepak Patkar remarked, “Telemedicine is here to stay. Inventions are happening faster than the demands. AI and digital tools are also here to stay and helps to send the appropriate information to the appropriate persons. Optimal utilisation of limited resources is the way forward”.
The second session of the day witnessed a riveting discussion on leveraging innovation and technology in healthcare marketing. The panel of speakers included Joy Chakraborty-COO, P D Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai, Bharat Gera, Founder, Human Centric Healthcare Ecosystem, Subhash Vashisth – Senior Advisor, Medical Electronics, AiMeD, Dr Anupam Karmakar, CEO and MD, SPF’s Hira Mongi Navneet Hospital. The panel was moderated by Jashanjeet Singh– COO Lokmanya Hospital.
Speaking about how digital technology can be leveraged in healthcare marketing, Bharat Gera said, “The use of data has become very important in communicating and reaching out to customers. Because you get data in silos from different sources, the personalisation of information has to be done to communicate and connect usefully with the customer”.
Adding to this, Joy Chakraborty remarked, “Hospitals are suffering from the issue of retaining their own patients. Knowing when to reach out to these patients is also helpful. When I see challenges, I see opportunities. These challenges make us understand how we can move forward and convert them into opportunities”.
Emphasising the importance of data in healthcare marketing and outreach, Dr Anupam Karmakar said, “We require the proper data to proceed especially during the pandemic. Awareness is one of the biggest challenges faced by healthcare marketers. Data was the only way to reach out to customers. We should leverage data and tools to understand the minute concerns of our patients and clients”.
Taking the discussion towards how social media can be used as a tool for outreach, Subhash Vashisht commented, “When we develop medical devices, we get real-time data that gives us more real-time insights into whether we are achieving our objectives. Social media is a trust-building tool between the consumer and healthcare providers, and we need to be sincere in our messaging”.
Concluding the session, moderator Jashanjeet Singh remarked, “Social media is a very powerful tool and should be used as a way to spread awareness, not as a patient acquisition tool. Technology is always here to stay”.
