Healthcare institutions are reimagining the way they treat their patients besides helping medical professionals learn new skills, irrespective of their location.

Covid-19 has not only altered the way we live and work, it has also pushed healthcare institutions ot adopt collaborative tools and cloud-based solutions to ensure continuity in providing quality healthcare and regular learning for the medical fraternity.

Coimbatore-based Ganga Medical Centre and Hospital, for instance, organises an annual Hand and Microsurgery Operative Conference.

With face-to-face teaching suspended due to enforced closure, Ganga Hospital has started to explore ways to continue the course.

Dr S Raja Sabapathy, Chairman, Department of Plastic Surgery, Ganga Medical Centre and Hospital said: “We started to look at options to do our annual hand operative course. Microsoft Teams helped us telecast the course live to the world. We conducted the conference at the hospital on July 11 and 12 with more than 550 surgeons from across 27 countries attending it.

“Microsoft Teams’ high-definition streaming enabled surgeons to view structures less than one millimetre in size with utmost clarity, much better than being present in our auditorium in Coimbatore,” he said.

“An on-ground videographer provided the live feed from specialised audio and video equipment installed in the four operating theatres. The live feeds were sent over Microsoft Teams and broadcast using Microsoft Stream to a global audience extending from Australia to Argentina. During the two days, live surgeries by five leading surgeons were conducted in parallel with live voice-over added to the feed to explain nuances of surgical skills and techniques.”

Stating that the crisis has made remote healthcare and remote learning the new normal, Samik Roy, Country Head, Modern Workplace, Microsoft India, said the IT major was honoured to partner with Ganga Hospital.

“This is a fine example of how technology can rise to solve real-life problems. Our expertise as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner helped us architect a solution with Microsoft Teams,” said Prashanth Subramanian, Cco-founder and Director, Quadra Systems, which helped set up the online conference.