When Mitali Biswas left her highly fulfilling role at IBM to become the CIO of a leading hospital in Kolkata, she was led solely by her conviction. Four years later, after successfully navigating the COVID-19 crisis which came along rather unexpectedly, she has embraced the role of a CIO with all its virtuosity.
The secret sauce is her inside-out approach to digital transformation with a firm focus on impactful outcomes. She is the sort of a technology leader who has seen the best of transformation programs globally and yet champions a more grounded approach while crafting a technology roadmap at CK Birla Hospitals.
In this exclusive video interaction, Mitali takes us through her fascinating journey as a healthcare CIO and how the sector is set to transform itself with the help of AI, IoT, wearables and other technologies.
The CK Birla group of Hospitals comprises esteemed institutions such as the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI), a premier multispecialty hospital located in Kolkata, alongside the renowned BM Birla Heart Research Centre in Kolkata and the Rukmani Birla Hospital in Jaipur. With a rich legacy spanning over 50 years, these hospitals have collectively provided care to more than 1.8 million patients.
Mitali believes that AI has the ability to revolutionize the healthcare sector and save more lives.
“AI has potential to significantly transform the clinical decisions support systems, by helping doctors diagnose faster and more accurately using data. Radiology imaging is emerging as a strong use case today. Imagine AI being used to accelerate the diagnosis process of brain strokes using MRI images – we will be able to save a lot more lives this way,” she says.
She discussed some key roadblocks to AI adoption in healthcare from an Indian context. “In healthcare, we are dealing with human lives and there must be the trust and evidence that the AI systems are 100 percent right. That’s the reason why acceptance and change management remain the biggest challenges.”
Mitali also highlights some key challenges in implementing AI in healthcare including the prevalence of manual processes, and the data management & data sharing issues that CIOs face. “It’s important to get the entire ecosystem in the healthcare sector to work together. Government plays a key role here. I think we are heading in the right direction with the help of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission. Enforcement is the need of the hour,” she underscores.
Watch the full video to learn more about the emerging use cases of IoT and wearables in healthcare and a lot more interesting insights from Mitali.
