This document discusses how information technology can address human needs in healthcare through three short stories. The first story describes how a family in India and abroad stays connected during a family medical emergency through video chat and online forms. The second story tells of a young girl who receives lifesaving brain surgery on a traveling hospital train. The third story is about a doctor who continues helping patients even after her death by her records being entered into a software program. The document advocates for IT solutions that understand human contexts and limitations to deliver meaningful impacts.
3. The Raghavan’s Diaspora Raghavan’s son in Boston, USA Daughter Raghavan in UK with family Mrs Raghavan is visiting Chennai Mr Raghavan stays in Bangalore A typical diasporic family, Ready to face any situation??
4. One unfortunate day, Mr Raghavan suffers a major cardiac attack. His neighbour Mr Gupta rushes him to a hospital. The Raghavan’s Diaspora
5. Its late night in Bangalore, whereas Raghavan’s son is at work in a meeting Raghavan’s daughter is attending the “ Bombay Dreams” show in London The Raghavan’s Diaspora
6. Mrs Raghavan is immediately informed, she rushes to Bangalore. The hospital is under pressure to go ahead with the treatment without presence of family members. Doctor Vivek is ready to operate… The Raghavan’s Diaspora
7. Son watching Video E-card from Daughter Online consent form “ IT could find several meaningful contributions to mitigate this human situation ”
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9. Little Padmamma lives in Varuthakode near Erode Her friends are going to celebrate her birthday But why are they all heading towards the rail station?? Little Padmamma’a Birthday
10. Padmamma’s mother tells the story It was when Padmamma was a tiny 15 month old Suddenly, she developed a huge headache and the doctor said she needed Neurosurgery Little Padmamma’a Birthday
11. Padmamma’s mother was shocked as this meant treatment in Chennai or Bangalore !! There was no way they could afford the expenses. Until the Station Master came and told them something really novel. Little Padmamma’a Birthday
12. Everyday the Chennai Express had a special coach – a travelling hospital Doctors from Bangalore and Chennai were able to investigate Padmamma’s problem They treated her for some days with medicines. Then on her birthday a neurosurgeon was on the train Little Padmamma’a Birthday
13. The hospital coach was detached at the Station. Little Padmamma was successfully operated by Dr Maithri. She is now a happy 6 years old. And yes! all her birthdays are celebrated on the train station… Little Padmamma’a Birthday
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15. Dr. Chalapathy was a renowned Endocrinologist. His family got to see very little of him during his years of practice. His wife was a practicing doctor in the same specialisation but with lesser fame as she spent more time at home. Dr Chalapathy’s Ghost
16. Then the famous doctor died in an air crash. The family was shattered and patients were worried about further treatment. Every patient wondered how Dr Chalapathy would have treated them vs Dr Mrs Chalapathy. Dr Chalapathy’s Ghost
17. This is when Dr Mrs Chalapathy created the ghost of Dr Chalapathy. She had all records of patients maintained during Dr Chalapathy’s period entered into a new MedWizard program. Dr Chalapathy’s Ghost
18. Luckily she remembered some of the unstructured observations of important cases as they had often discussed together. Everytime a new patient came, she would enter the main observations and it would match patterns with a previous patient in the system. Her patients started coming back, they knew that Dr Chalapathy’s ghost was still around… Dr Chalapathy’s Ghost
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20. “ IT has to work within the limitations of infrastructure and yet deliver far reaching impact” “ IT need not create new knowledge but can build processes for sharing that can make expertise ever lasting” “ With a better understanding of the human situation , IT can really make a difference!! “ IT makes progress and produces meaningful results only when IT addresses the human situation ” Lessons from the stories