ICT be used for better healthcare: Pitroda

Information and communications technology should be used to create an information network for better health care in the country, Sam Pitroda, adviser to the prime minister on Public Infrastructure and Innovation, said Wednesday.

Addressing a conference on healthcare organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Pitroda said existing healthcare infrastructure, especially in rural area, needed to be improved.

"A great deal of work needs to be done in addressing the challenge of upgrading and modernising India's primary health centres and medical facilities in rural areas in the next 10 years. Unless we do this, our dream of achieving universal health cover will not become a reality," he said.

"I am a firm believer in low cost solutions for common ailments that afflict millions of Indians and there is, therefore, a need for marrying the advances in modern, western system of medicine with India's traditional medicine," he added.

According to him, the Indian healthcare system is riddled with problems of corruption, bureaucracy and procedures.

"We have all the expertise and the capability and are making huge investments in healthcare. Yet, we fail in execution of schemes and programmes that will ultimately reach healthcare to the bottom of the pyramid," he said.