AstraZeneca Pharma India, a leading science-led biopharmaceutical company, on Wednesday announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding with Docon Technologies, Bengaluru, for digitizing 1,000 clinics across the country that would aid better management of chronic patients or those suffering from non-communicable diseases related complications.

Under the partnership, Docon will equip the identified clinics spread over 30 cities – including tier 1 and tier 2 towns - with customized electronic medical record (EMR) systems enabling clinicians to access complete patient history.  

This will go a long way in helping the clinical community better treat chronic patients and manage long-term complications of non-communicable diseases (NCD’s) like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, AstraZeneca said in a  media release.
 
The rising risk of NCD-related deaths has necessitated the need for better treatment protocols to reduce mortality rates and hence having a centralized repository of critical patient history becomes important.

According to the Indian health ministry, 1 in 4 Indians risks dying from an NCD before they reach the age of 70. The major NCDs in India are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. Physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, tobacco use, and the harmful use of alcohol are the main behavioral risk factors for NCDs.

They contribute to raised blood pressure (hypertension); raised blood sugar (diabetes); raised and abnormal blood lipids (dyslipidemia); and obesity.
 
In addition to the multiple government initiatives in the country, digitization of small clinics with the support of EMR, teleconsultation and other additional facilities will provide the doctor and the patient a better opportunity to interact and ensure that there is constant monitoring of the patient and medication adherence.  
 
To ensure safety and privacy, the data of the patient will be fully encrypted and stored in a private cloud server to ensure the highest security and only clinicians will have access to individual patient data.

(SAM)