August 26
The Koita Centre for Digital Oncology (KCDO) was founded by the National Cancer Grid (NCG) to encourage the use of digital technologies and tools to enhance cancer care in India. The Centre was established with assistance from the Koita Foundation, which will provide five years of funding.
Today, the Tata Memorial Centre and the Koita Foundation signed an MOU at the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai to formalise their collaboration.
The evolution of cancer care is accelerating, and digital tools are increasingly important for improving cancer care worldwide. KCDO will play a crucial role in fostering digital change throughout the spectrum of cancer care.
KCDO will assist NCG hospitals in sharing best practices in digital health, adopting digital health solutions, and promoting several shared technological projects, such as EMR adoption, healthcare data interoperability, reporting, and analytics.
KCDO will also enable NCG and NCG hospitals to pilot and embrace new technologies, such as AI, machine learning, big data, automation, cloud, and mobile, to the advantage of hospitals, physicians, patients, and customers.
Adopting digital tools such as telemedicine and remote patient monitoring would make healthcare more accessible, particularly in semi-urban and rural areas. AI-assisted clinical decision support tools will assist physicians in providing better care, while mobile patient engagement applications will assist patients with medication management and adherence to care recommendations.
Similarly, the utilisation of healthcare data analytics across institutions would provide the monitoring and comparison of clinical results and the efficacy of various treatment and care paths. KCDO will also collaborate with academic and research institutions to advance cancer care research and development.
“The Koita Centre for Digital Oncology is a very timely initiative. It will help create an innovation ecosystem across hospitals, healthcare technology companies, academic institutions and research organizations to address challenges in cancer care. The positive impact of this ecosystem can extend beyond cancer care”, said Dr R A Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Centre.
“We are very excited about the establishment of Koita Centre for Digital Oncology in NCG. The new centre will enable more than 270 NCG partner hospitals to assess and deploy digital tools to enhance cancer care and make it more accessible and affordable across India”, said Dr C S Pramesh, Convener of the NCG.
“Koita Foundation is privileged to partner with the NCG and supports its Digital Health initiatives and drive meaningful improvement in cancer care across India. KCDO can also help NCG hospitals adopt the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) platform, which is a key national priority,” said Rizwan Koita, Director, Koita Foundation.
About National Cancer Grid (NCG):
The National Cancer Grid (NCG) is an initiative of the Government of India through the Department of Atomic Energy and its grant-in-aid institution, the Tata Memorial Centre, to create a network of cancer centres, research institutes, patient groups and charitable institutions across India to develop uniform standards of patient care for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer; providing specialized training and education in oncology and facilitating collaborative basic, translational and clinical research in cancer. NCG today has over 270 hospitals in its network across India.
About Koita Foundation:
Koita Foundation (www.koitafoundation.org) is a not-for-profit organization that has two focus areas – NGO Transformation and Digital Health. As part of the Koita Foundation Digital Health initiatives, it has partnered with IIT Bombay to establish the Koita Centre for Digital Health (www.kcdh.iitb.ac.in) and works closely with National Health Authority (NHA) and National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) on their Digital Health initiatives.
