EU-India Collaboration for a secure, open and interoperable digital health

The session titled “Digitalizing Healthcare: Developing a Mutually Profitable Collaboration Between India and the EU To Create A Secure, Open and Interoperable Digital Health Ecosystem” touched on the issues related to implementation of the digital health ecosystem in the EU and India, with a focus on interoperable systems, the use of Artificial intelligence and data security and privacy. The  discussion centred on exploring opportunities for bilateral cooperation between India and the EU in Digital Health, and the future of healthcare through the lens of AI and digitalisation. 

The gathering was hosted collaboratively by Pravesh Global, The Dialogue and Hertie School who lead the development of the report on the EU-India collaboration that will be released shortly. The discussion moderated by Prof. Dr. Mujaheed Shaikh and Pavan Ananth included ECHAlliance’s Innovation Director Karolina Mackiewicz,as well as Kamesh Shekar, Dr. Jubin Shah, PhD, Nita Tyagi and  and brought numerous conclusions. Some of them are:

1. There is an immense opportunity for collaboration between the European Union and India on Electronic Health Records and data in terms of knowledge and practice exchange, setting the common standards and legislations. 
2. Given the fact of the changing demographics both in the EU and India, digitalisation is seen as an opportunity or even the only chance to keep the healthcare systems sustainable. However, the process must be integrated within the system and serve the end users: patients, healthcare professionals, administrators. “Digital transformation in healthcare means more people using digital technologies, not more technology”, as Karolina Mackiewicz said. 
3. The legislations (eg. EHDS, GDPR) should be seen as enablers, not barriers for wider collaboration. Currently, the European countries often suffer from over-compliance while the Indian experience is under-compliance.