People are finding ways to eliminate hospital visits, which in turn have led them to adopt healthy lifestyle choices, tele-health and frequent self monitoring. Preventive healthcare will hence gain attention in the post-COVID world, says Vikram Ahluwalia

It has been months now that the pandemic is upon us. The rising number of cases is indeed unsettling, especially when we are not even supposed to share or lend a shoulder despite the stress — no warm hugs or comforting strokes. And caution is of paramount importance. For the first time ever, humanity stands physically distant and yet connected through hope.

This situation has triggered several transformations into human civilisation, which are now going to be more strongly embedded in our lifestyles. The pandemic has also exposed the vulnerabilities of our healthcare system and the crisis has offered opportunities to transform our healthcare industry. At a time when there’s no cure or vaccine to the deadly virus, the pandemic has elevated the importance and acceptance of preventive healthcare. In March 2020, when the government started educating people about the preventive measures to combat COVID-19, the people responded positively to the hygiene practices. Hand-washing kiosks came up at public places in many states and the public was seen making use of it. This is remarkable for a country where only 60 per cent of houses have access to soap and water. All this shows that people are ready for preventive healthcare.

The rapid pace of social and technological changes have led to adverse lifestyle choices, resulting in deteriorating well-being among individuals. Incidences of various lifestyle diseases (co-morbidities) such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension, heart diseases and others are on the rise. However, the adage, ‘prevention is better than cure’ is now well etched into the minds of consumers as they have now started treating health more seriously. The consumers have realised that most of these health risks can considerably be reduced through preventive care. We have already seen consumers adopting healthy lifestyles, eating home-cooked food, practicing sleep hygiene, opting health supplements and doing yoga and physical exercises to stay fit.

For years now preventive healthcare was by and large losing out the attention it deserved. But recently, the adoption of innovations that can reduce or eliminate hospital stays have picked up pace. The trend is leading to increasing adoption of healthy lifestyle choices, tele-health and self-monitoring via POCT devices and by going for preventive care check-ups. Like the saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine; going for preventive or diagnostic care check-ups helps in detecting diseases in early stages and identifying nutritional and other deficiencies. It helps in treating the diseases with ease and without impacting the health of the patient. Diagnostic care also helps in identifying deficiencies in the body and helps the patient adopt relevant lifestyle changes. Along with that, early diagnosis and prevention of disease and its symptoms may reduce the burden on inpatient/outpatient care, medications and rehabilitation. More people must opt for regular or annual testing and full body check-ups, and they should update themselves about what’s happening inside their bodies. A preventive test is like a report card which tells an individual how he/she has performed. So while, you are taking all those supplements and lifestyle choices, it’s important to know how your body is reacting to it.

Today, there’s also a huge focus towards immunity; the stress on boosting immunity has never been stronger. It is a known fact that individuals who are a bit low on immunity have a reduced ability to fight infections and other diseases. This may be caused by certain chronic diseases or conditions, such as anemia, heart diseases, lung diseases, AIDS, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, malnutrition, and certain genetic disorders. An infected person with such pre-existing disease(s) is known to carry co-morbidities. Patients with immune-compromised state and/or co-morbidity are vulnerable to a higher risk of life threatening infections. A methodological assessment of a patient’s immune status can assist both the patient and doctor to estimate his/her risk of infection, its outcome and next course of actions for the betterment.

Indeed, a body needs exercise to retain functionality and fitness. At the same time, it would need proper nutritional foundation to have good health and a strong immune system. And the only way to know what’s lacking and to understand whether the diet regime is actually benefitting is to undergo relevant diagnostic testing. As India unlocks itself in phases, keeping a healthy immune system can help prevent or reduce risks of infections or diseases.

As consumers are now moving towards healthier choices, by avoiding outside food, learning which macro or micro nutrients are lacking in their bodies is the best way to replenish them. While testing is definitely going to play a critical role in delivering insights about the body, its immunity and its health, the role of doctors will always remain pivotal to the patients. Understanding and interpreting the reports correctly is a doctor’s forte. A doctor understands the health requirements of an individual and can appropriately consider medical history of the patient before setting the course of action for further improvement on the basis of the diagnosis made.

The diagnostic efforts to counter COVID-19 have already aroused much interest and spread awareness about preventive testing and its importance. The effort needs to educate people further so that India witnesses a shift from curative care to preventive care, from treatment to health and well being.

Just like airbags in the car is a preventive step to prevent a larger damage that can cost life, preventive care and check-ups should be imperative for citizens and ways and means need to be devised to make it accessible for one and all. Only with a preventive mindset can we look at a country which spends lesser on health because its people are by and large leading a healthy life.

(The writer is the Director-Marketing, SRL Diagnostics.)