Time to leapfrog with HealthTech

When the Covid crisis struck, a few optimistic people thought that it would be over in weeks.

Some in months. But now it’s here for the long-haul and this current era could be here for a

few years. In fact, it looks like the shadow of Covid could hang over the entire 2020s decade.

So instead of “short-term” “ad hoc” “wait and watch” solutions, it’s time to think long-term.

The Covid Era has begun and there could be further waves, pandemic scares, lockdowns,

restrictions, social distancing, disruptions…

You have to get your business on the cloud and secure all your devices, for that appears to be

the future: The world’s data travelling through billions of devices across millions of data

centres. You don’t want to be left out. What can be WFHed has to be done and so a long-term

remote work solution has to be found for as many jobs as possible.

For transportation, legislation has to be cleared for the full use of drones and driverless cars.

That is also happening. The Punjab Police used drones to monitor curfews. Many cities used

them for sanitization. In the US, Robotaxis have started operating; as have driverless delivery

vehicles. In fact one such service has started delivering pizzas.

Time to digitize everything and have it accessible from every device, including smartphones.

Thanks to almost everyone on Earth having smartphones, you can actually think of

embracing digital files and money fully. Cryptocurrencies are here to stay as all the Bitcoins

in the world were worth a whopping $1 trillion. Even the RBI is contemplating a digital

currency.

Robots and Industry 4.0 will have a huge role to play in all manufacturing units in the world

of social distancing and no touch era. Operators are remotely working robotic assistants in

warehouses proving that the WFH concept can be expanded to include a lot of job types that

were previously unheard of.

Online education can be great for cutting costs, touching remote areas and democratizing

higher institutions. But the ad hoc and uncertain way in which they are being thrust on the

students is putting a great strain on them. The government has to come out with a clear online

education policy and fast.

Government hospitals have been the biggest failure of successive governments from 1947

onward and our healthcare was grossly inadequate during the second wave of the Covid

crisis. It is time to leapfrog into the next age using HealthTech. Once the second wave ends,

we need a desperate upgrade.

Think long-term. Think tech. Think that for both urban and rural areas. Think that for every

industry and every sector. That’s the only way forward.