Bottom of the Pyramid: healthcare IT

I haven’t yet finished the book: Fortune at the bottom of the pyramid by CK Prahalad, but I have been so impressed by it that it warranted a post. More than the content of the book, what prompted me to write a post is that the book confirms something I have always thought was true, “it is possible to do well while doing good”. In the book there are various examples of MNCs, NGOs and local entrepreneurs who through innovative solutions have managed to achieve a profit and provide a much needed service or solution to the poorest of the poor.

So heres my two cents. I want to start looking at healthcare IT solutions in developing economies. Before developing a product or a solution, the initial task is to define the problem well. Identify all stakeholders and constraints. Once thats done its easier to sculpt a solution.

The actors

1. The poor both in rural and urban India(and other developing countries)

2. The physicians, nurses, technicians, pharmacists, and other supporting staff at Primary Health Centers

3. The government

4. NGOs with noble intentions to alleviate poverty, provide standard healthcare, education etc

5. Private corporations, companies that hope to make a profit

The challenges

1. Poverty, illiteracy,high population densities; harsh conditions like lack of infrastructure, media proliferation, etc

2. Corruption at various levels

3. Healthcare IT solutions such as EMR(electronic medial records), CAD(computer aided diagnosis), PACS(picture archiving and communication systems), decision support etc are targeted towards the affluent hospitals.

The vision

Why cant we innovate and build healthcare IT solutions that the poor can benefit from and at the same time enable the companies that build such solutions to profit?

So at this point I did a google search for “Bottom of the pyramid healthcare IT” and found this article . So if large MNCs have already realized that there is substantial profits to be made from designing medical devices for the bottom of the pyramid, the next step is in coming out with software systems that can connect all these disparate systems for a low cost. I bet GE is already thinking of such systems.

But the awesome thing about healthcare IT systems for developing economies is that the pie is so large that there could and should be multiple players for it to work. There are severe infrastructure problems that can be solved only if multiple players are interested and onboard.

Of course the barrier to entry consist of the challenges mentioned above and more. If any of my readers think of exciting healthcare IT solutions that are needed for developing economies please comment. I believe that over the next 20 years, we are going to see healthcare IT solutions targeted at the bottom of the pyramid.