New Indian PM Narendra Modi
(Image: Flickr/narendramodiofficial)

Given the current national mood that led to the spectacular victory of Mr. Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it would only be fair to say that India, and its citizens, want greater equity, quality, transparency, and choice. That is as true of their healthcare needs as it is of everything else.

In the recent past, increasing government expenditure on health (as a % of GDP) and moving towards a system based around Universal Health Coverage (UHC) made big news. While both augur well for India, it is important to realize that they are but the means to an end. For a government with a sweeping mandate, the focus must clearly be on making India a healthy nation, understanding clearly that health has a multiplier effect on the nation’s GDP. Focus on the very basics; focus on health could be a motto.

India’s health needs are paradoxical. At one end, we lose babies and mothers, lives that could be saved easily including large cases of malnutrition.  On the other, our growing urban population is getting older, making unhealthy lifestyle choices, and increasing burden on non-communicable diseases (NCDs). To address both ends of the spectrum, the government has to define its role clearly.

Mr. Modi has on occasion expressed his focus on preventive healthcare – preventing disease rather than treating it. This will involve building capability across the spectrum. In the short-term, we are likely to see an increase in the number of medical and paramedical colleges to train and deploy locally, more hospitals and treatment points-of-care, and provision of financial security to access healthcare. This might either happen through targeted direct cash transfers or reforms in the insurance sector to accord affordable health security to the most under-privileged.

In the medium-term we might expect large-scale programs to address malnourishment, spread awareness of health and screening and proactive treatment of health conditions. While screening and management can be outsourced to the private sector through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), prevention and awareness activities must be spearheaded by the government. Innovative solutions can be devised to engage the private sector and other stakeholders, but it must be the government that should drive this. Mr. Modi is a believer in the catalyzing role of technology and he is likely to facilitate its infusion into the healthcare space liberally. Under his leadership the Gujarat government brought down the infant mortality rate significantly with the implementation of ‘eMamta’, a mobile mother-and-child tracking system that has registered over 480 million families.

By creating transparent and accountable systems and speeding up decision-making & implementation, Mr. Modi administered for three straight terms at the state level. This will encourage the newer government departments to shun its traditional style of working, and instead identify and implement priority actions in other sectors like trade, taxation, education, agriculture, urban development, food and pharmaceutical production and allow for substantial health gains, especially for the poor. Easing up tax, labor and infrastructure laws will ease up FDI norms and attract much needed investment into the pharmaceutical sector and kick-start the revival of India as the quality drug manufacturing hub of the world. This revival will also provide a fillip to the free medicines scheme for the poor through the public system and a transparent market-based pricing in the private system.

Mr. Modi’s passion is to transform India into a hub of innovation. He has publicly questioned why top quality medical equipment and medicines cannot be manufactured and exported from India. This vision will create more jobs, reinstate India’s position at the global table and build formidable economic prowess consequently improving diplomatic ties with the global community. This important step will facilitate transfer of much needed cutting-edge technology into R&D while helping to protect against predatory trade agreements that can potentially harm the interests of the average Indian. It can also revive the clinical trials sector globally, by reassuring transnational corporations of India’s capabilities and support, while reinforcing the need for ethics and protecting the interests of its citizens.

The new government must be judged on the basis of its ability to devise innovative solutions that will keep the nation healthy. India does not lack the ability to deliver; we also have the requisite technical experience and knowledge.

I was happy to get this personalized message on twitter, the day results were declared and was happy to  note the powerful vision that it shares with the nation. Surely innovation will be the key, and I hope that the next government will usher in a period of innovative solutions across the spectrum, that can tackle some of India’s health sector challenges head-on.

The post Does the New Government Bode Well for India’s Healthcare Sector? appeared first on GLOBALHealthPR.

It was a great experience to land in Sydney for the GLOBALHealthPR AGM amidst some of the great healthcare communicators from around the globe.  Sitting in the conference room at Park Hyatt Sydney overlooking the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, it was the perfect setting to meet all the partners and discuss global trends in healthcare communication. I did notice that around the world there are newer challenges that the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries are facing as far as effective communication is concerned. As the globe is getting economically stronger and flatter, health issues are dynamically changing. With increasing life spans, the global population is ageing, bringing with it new challenges for elderly care. The fast-increasing incidences of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer and other afflictions are taking a toll on public health and highlight a dire need for early diagnosis and care.

Also, obesity is a big challenge across age-groups, ethnicities and cultures. Psychological issues, nutrition and lifestyle disorders, too, are becoming serious threats to global health. Never before has there been a graver need for disseminating the right health information to tackle these issues at multiple levels.

With the advent of digital media, increasing numbers of consumers are getting information and as a result, health literacy is on the rise. The challenge is to provide the right information in the correct context – and that is a tall order. How do we create memorable messages that stand out, while also making them relevant and simple to understand? Content is becoming increasingly critical in the current times.

The GLOBALHealthPR group discussed (and agreed) that similar trends have been observed worldwide. It is critical to generate relevant and contextual content which has a meaningful purpose and gives people the information they need to lead happier, healthier lives and manage various health conditions. GLOBALHealthPR has been focused and passionate about scientific content, and values the dynamic changes that the Digital era is bringing in. Using social media channels to engage with your audience and share videos, infographics, blogs and simple stories makes content more personal and helps to get key messaging across.

As we move to a more collaborative world, it will be critical to understand the challenges and the emotions of patients across health conditions. Empathy will help create the best solutions to these issues. The future of health communication will be creating content that keeps the patient at the center of all things we do, adding passion to it and leveraging the key messaging with the right mix of media and channels. The above thoughts resonated with across our Partnership, from Australia to North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and South America, over our three days of discussions at the AGM 2014 in Sydney.

While I am finishing this blog at the office of our Australian partner, VIVA!, in peaceful green Mosman, Australia, the Kookaburra on the nearby branch is making its typical ‘laughing’ call. I really couldn’t decode his message, though!

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Dinesh Chindarkar

Detailing has always been the backbone of doctors’ communication with the pharma industry for over the last three to four decades. This print tool, though has undergone quality improvements in terms of its content, visual appeal, some added gimmicks etc; all these have been value-adds within the box. Nothing has challenged it–until now.With healthcare providers (HCPs) getting increasingly busy, the print communication gets poor attention with hardly five to 10 per cent of the total message delivered at times. Many a times, the doctor says that he has seen the detailer over and over again and asks the sales representative to just name the brand and/or leave samples and move on. All the cumulative hard work of the brand manager, marketing manager and the sales representative goes for a toss when the doctor does that. This also affects the sales person’s psyche and morale because of which his work gets adversely affected. A major complaint of the field people, including managers, is that they cannot talk beyond the brand name and one or two points; just because they had a bad experience with the doctor not being receptive or not allowing them to speak more.

Within the current scenario, isn’t the doctor justified to refuse him? Isn’t the medical representative justified in insisting on finishing his detailing after waiting for so long? Is the communication tool incomplete or lacking something interesting to convey its message?

Welcome to the era of eDetailing – where technology and graphics, married with rich content, come to the rescue of the mundane communication!

With the advent of technology, video content, graphics, motion and interactivity, and newer digital tools are challenging this visual aid and redefining communication. This version of detailing adds an ‘e’ of electronic to it, making it completely different from the current mode of communication. A different form of eDetailing is one where communication is sent to doctors on the PC without a personal interaction. But we are talking of eDetailing in the context where the electronic detailing aid is used by the sales rep in person-to-person call.

The objective of having a rich, content – driven conversation with the doctor, so as to discuss about newer medical advances, sharing updated information and help him make the right decision for prescription can be achieved using eDetailing. All this can be done weaving the brand within the conversation rather than the brand dominating the communication.

With a range of devices available from the high end i-Pads to lower end tablets, one can choose the right one based on the needs and budgets. However, the biggest two challenges in eDetailing are:

1.Approach and understanding of technology

1. Changing mindsets and training people

eDetailing is not just digitising communication. A lot of pharma companies today have moved to converting their existing content of the visual aid into a presentation format and this they feel is using digital technology. No it is not! Digital medium is a medium by itself and each media has its own nuances, advantages and disadvantages, their own strengths and weaknesses. One has to build up on the strength and minimise weaknesses, just like with people. If the MR makes a powerpoint presentation to a doctor using the visual aid, how is it different from using a print media? This is just like repackaging the radio and listening to it on a TV. Will that really be utilising the key advantages that a television offers?

The approach to the content has to be radically different. What does digital media really offer? It gives an incredible video streaming experience, rich graphics, interactive animations, the technology of touch, audio effects, navigational framework etc. All of these have now to be utilised keeping in mind the key messaging that we need to convey to our TG.

Instructional design forms the basis of any eDetailing project and forms the core of building communication. There are various approaches to eDetailing based on the category in which one is operating, the nature of the brand, the amount of science available in it and the level of HCPs‘ understanding around it. Considering today’s limitations of time, a MR should be able to set up the story easily before he meets the doctor and deliver the key message within the anticipated time. If the MR is able to deal with this efficiently, the whole communication can be effective. If he can break the same story in different parts and present to the doctor during different visits he can create one strong message going to the doctor. Another critical advantage of eDetailing is in equipping the MR to answer variety of queries through handy information capsules.

In eDetailing there is also a possibility of creating an analytics back-end, wherein key things can be recorded, like which doctor has seen the story, spent how much time on which part, where the interaction was maximum etc. This data can be collated real time and based on that feedback can be given. Taking eDetailing to a new level, the MR can connect the doctor to the medical team in his office through his device and get any queries sorted out. Also, he can encourage and involve the doctor in the interactive presentation through guided questions and lead him into conversation. Another advantage of eDetailing is compiling all data in an interactive form, where the MR can open up a product manual to showcase references or showcase a latest CME video to get across an important point. Patient-centric case-studies, interactive CMEs, lead-in medical cases etc can make a doctor completely involved in the communication process. Any interesting data can be shared with the doctor there and then or could be requested for with a follow-up.

Though all this sounds like a dream after four decades of mundane detailing, there are certain hurdles that one needs to overcome. The hurdles with using the right technology which works all the time is critical. The connectivity, band-width, actual model of detailing, the software used and the interface of promotion are all critical in making the technology stronger. Even if the technology is good it is critical to train your people, especially unlearning old things, which is difficult. People are resistant to change. With a long history of regular detailing, it is really difficult to change the typical ‘senior management mindset’. To bring them out of their comfort zone is a challenge for the industry. Companies need to do a thorough training – both on the mental front to encourage them for usage and on the usability front to make them tech-savvy. It is critical to take rational decisions knowing the internal limitations, rather than copying someone. If there is a clear understanding of technology with a simple vision, one can have a convinced internal buy-in. It should be understood by all stakeholders that the idea is more important and bigger than the technology!

Note: This blog post also appears in Express Pharma. 

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Dinesh Chindarkar

Dinesh Chindarkar, Co-founder of MediaMedic Communications, in the Express Pharma series of articles titled ‘The Digital Dose for Indian Pharma’ elucidates how creating a page on Facebook can help pharma companies to initiate a responsible communication with their target audience and benefit the brand.

Facebook, launched in the year 2004, is the most popular social networking website in India with 400 plus million users which makes India #2 in the ranking of all Facebook users by country. Facebook has revolutionised the way people look at and feel about social media. Through this platform people can now stay connected, share photos and information like never before. The usage of Facebook is not restricted only to common people. Celebrities, politicians, sportsmen and also businessmen can exploit Facebook to increase their popularity and social gains. With such perks, how can this media benefit our pharma industry?

With a massive user base, it is definitely a place where the industry can leverage their corporate and/or brand presence through a Facebook page. If you have an OTC brand, you must have a Facebook presence. This may sound compulsive, but in reality, it is compulsory if you want to be seen! People have such easy Internet access these days that social media is the first place they look for further information on any product. A recent study from PWC’s Health Research Institute has established that 40 per cent of consumers have used social media to find health-related brand reviews. As a result, if pharma companies want to earn the attention of modern day consumers, then they need to connect with them through Facebook in order to influence their decisions.

Since pharma brands come under regulations, it is clear that they cannot be advertised. But category building and disease awareness are critical issues that can be addressed using this route. With so much ignorance about health, Facebook opens up a media to reach out to people. Having patient communities on Facebook where one can engage patients, communicate directly with them, share their views and opinions can prove to be an excellent outcome on Facebook for the pharma industry.

Creating a page on Facebook and having a responsible communication for generating disease awareness can indirectly benefit the brand. But before one chooses this path, they ought to be sure that what information they will communicate is what the consumer is really looking for. ‘Psoriasis 360’ was an excellent initiative by J&J that helped connect patients from across the world. They talked about how they felt, shared emotions, problems and crowd sourced solutions too. Learning from each other’s experience they adapted to life better. That was the power of this media in empowering patients.

Apart from creating patient centric Facebook pages, a company can also connect with their customers and stake holders through FB. The few MNC pharma companies who have active Facebook page with large number of engaged users are listed adjacently*

As the healthcare industry is undergoing a rapid change and patients are becoming more tech savvy, even doctors have begun to feel the need to go digital. Doctors in western countries are already using Facebook to share knowledge, retain patients, create awareness, educate about medical inventions, research etc. Gradually this trend has caught up in India as well. A specialised doctor, like a cardiologist or oncologist can create his or her own page and share information about the disease or new treatments and connect with his patients. Especially with the rise in chronic lifestyle disorders, it is changing the way doctor-patient relationship is developing. Even a simple update on water-borne disease trend observed on his FaceBook page by a family physician, helps hundreds of his patients realise the trends and helps in prevention. Community medicine is really turning into ‘community building’ online.

A lot of companies are also considering to build a social model similar to a FaceBook for doctor communities but with a closed platform. So sharing of information within a community of doctors becomes easy and secured. With this there is a personalised engagement with doctors and individual needs could be met. Also it helps understand and profile a doctor based on his behaviour and attitude. With the healthcare industry moving on to the next level where patients have a higher say and control, this is a good time to think about getting a “face” for your brand or company. In this fastest growing network, there is huge opportunity for pharma and it can do lot a more in this growing space.

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Dinesh Chindarkar

As a continuation to the Express Pharma series of articles titled ‘The Digital Dose for Indian Pharma’, Dinesh Chindarkar, Co-founder & Vice President – Operations, MediaMedic Communications, focuses on specific social media platforms gives an outlook on the most popular social networking and micro-blogging platform – Twitter

One thing similar between a celebrity and a common man is – they both ‘tweet’. From announcing the birth of a baby to rocking the nation, people share their hearts out on this micro-blogging website called Twitter.

So what exactly is Twitter?

Twitter is nothing but a network pool of real time information that connects you with the latest news and information on topics of your interest and much more. When we say real-time, it means new information is uploaded almost every second! That’s the speed at which you reach your viewer. At the core of Twitter is a ‘tweet’, which is a short text message of 140 characters in length. This message is more like an SMS but displayed to the public or a large number of audience.

How does Twitter work?

Just like any social media channel, Twitter can help you network with your colleagues, associates and other professionals from the industry. It also helps to stay in touch with various companies. You can follow them and they can follow you. You will be able to see a Twitter feed real time on your account of all the different accounts that you follow. Similarly, whatever you tweet is seen by your followers.

You can also check which profiles are followed by your peers and associates, to help you decide whom to follow. But, how can these little tweets help our pharma companies in increasing their business? Just like any social media channel, Twitter is like a PR tool to build up your reputation and interact with the masses at large. As a corporate, pharma companies can talk about their initiatives in terms of patient education, CSR, latest technology adoption, new product launches and also about their financial achievements.

How to make Twitter work for you?

The trick with Twitter is effective communication. To grab the attention of customers, one needs to also use or follow the appropriate hashtags. A hashtag will group your tweets in conversations related to healthcare, where it will create greater visibility. For example; on Twitter if you type ‘#pharma’ in the search section, you will see all the tweets containing ‘#pharma’. This will help you identify all the discussion happening around pharma. Similarly, when you post some update related to pharma and you use this hashtag, your conversation will be grouped with others and people who like it may start communicating or following you. That is the beauty of Twitter and it can give rise to meaningful conversation and dialogue around geographical boundaries and help connect with varied people.

A pharma company has to strategise the use of Twitter, define the objectives and then get on with the implementation. It can create a hype by broadcasting the company’s latest news, latest research done on its molecule, create awareness on a particular disease or condition, interact with doctors and patients alike, enable easy internal collaboration and group communication etc. Rather than keeping a one-way broadcasting outlook, a company can get into meaningful conversations.

Doctors too are changing and, especially the younger ones, are adapting to Twitter fast and can definitely be connected. They seek and share information on twitter and can strike a conversation with any pharma company that they wish to. Pharma can look into creating groups within healthcare providers (HCPs) and engage with them by giving them personalised information that they wish to get. Twitter can be an incredibly powerful tool, provided it is used strategically with clearly laid down objectives.

Current users of Twitter

There are a few Indian pharma companies who have effectively started using Twitter to connect with their customers and consumers. One of the few top Twitter pharma handles that are currently in use is @Pfizer_news where Pfizer gives out real time information about the company. @Diabetes_Sanofi is another great example of a pharma company connecting with its patients. This handle posts real time case studies and blogs of its consumers while promoting awareness about diabetes.

Some relevant hashtags to use while tweeting are: #pharma, #hcsmin, #healthcare, #ehealth, #indiahealth

Making a Twitter in the market

With Twitter, newer platforms of interactive communication with customers, clients, consumers, and competitors can be explored as it holds a lot of benefits. The key lies in understanding the medium completely. It not only allows the pharma company to build their brand’s image but also build the category in which it is operating. With approximately over 10 million Twitter users in India, and majority of them using to get latest news, pharma companies have ample opportunities to showcase their true marketing potential through Twitter. Moreover, it is extremely cost effective as one simple tweet is reaching a huge number of audience compared to the traditional methods of marketing.

As the world moves on to newer avenues of marketing, Twitter is that one potential avenue which needs to be explored by Indian pharma. Once they get on the roll in tweeting, then they can easily connect with their customers, patients and stakeholders. In this era of ‘disease management’ and ‘partnering for healthy outcomes’, it is a critical medium to reach these TGs.

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Dinesh Chindarkar

Dinesh Chindarkar, Co-founder of MediaMedic Communications, kicks of series of articles in Express Pharma titled ‘The Digital Dose for Indian Pharma’. In this episode he discusses the ‘emerging media & digital technology’ and how it is affecting the pharma ecosystem in general. The series will cover topics ranging from technology to mobile health, i-pad detailing to patient behaviour, social media opportunities within pharma and the changing health eco-system and its implications on pharma marketing.

Technological advancement in the last decade has brought an exponential change in the way people are communicating and connecting with each other. This is mainly because of the ‘rise and rise’ in the digital and social media space. Further, bringing it an inch closer to people is the newer drivers of communication that has flooded the digital market and spoiled people for different choices. From the initial days of desktop computers to the more tech savvy tablets, people have surplus options to choose their hi-tech device.

Taking advantage of this, the FMCG industry has been quite effective in striking a cord with their consumers to successfully communicate with them, resulting in larger spends on emerging media including digital and social. But where does the Indian pharma industry stand as on date when it comes to online spends? The numbers are nowhere close when it comes to matching with the traditional marketing spends.

Today, the world has acknowledged the fact that healthcare is in the process of real time change. This thought has also triggered changes in Indian healthcare practitioners (HCP’s) outlook and attitude towards their practice. On the personal front, due to time restrictions, doctors are known to spend highly on online shopping and doing online banking transactions etc. Those who are on a high learning curve have also started to evolve over time, and adapting themselves well. Those who belong to the young breed of doctors are already high on digital knowledge and are largely using it in their day-to-day practice to get and share medical information. Especially with 50 per cent population below the age of 30 years, the new breed of doctors that are emerging are ‘native’ users, unlike their senior counterparts who have been ‘migrants’. The psychology and behaviour of the younger breed is completely different and will lead to an accelerated change within healthcare.

Patients on the other hand have also started to look forward to Internet and social media platforms for getting additional information on the drugs that have been prescribed to them. The rise of this e-patient is in turn forcing doctors to adapt to changes and be more careful in the transaction and relationship building with the patient. Health as a subject is highly ‘searched’ in India on various conditions. Increasing life-span is forcing people to discuss health topics openly unlike the traditional olden days. They are not just seeking information but sharing information as well. This is giving rise to discussions, opinions and in turn is creating a pool of online data for people to refer. Experiences of people shared online is shaping up opinions and is greatly influencing patients behaviour.

All this completely serves as a wakeup call for the pharma industry. The pharma industry, known for its traditional approach, though initially reluctant, has now started responding and adapting to these changes.

With over 120 million of the population actively using the Internet and 900 plus million mobile phone users, the pharma industry has a plethora of opportunities to explore. It has now started to sense the newer avenues to engage with its customers – the doctors and consumers – the patients.

This has led to an increase in the acceptance of mHealth or Mobile Health by Pharma professionals and has thrown up some wonderful opportunities for marketers.

Worldwide, mHealth has helped healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients alike to gain healthcare information, as well as real time monitoring of health status, and subsequently understanding the medical care that needs to be taken.

Moreover, a new health app is introduced almost every day in the digital world so much so that people have leaped into a pool of healthcare information. Keeping these benefits in mind, the future of digital healthcare looks very promising in India.

If the emerging tools and media are used strategically, the industry can very well leverage its integrated marketing efforts.

Doctor communication can be taken to a newer level by the pharma industry as digital can help leverage a plethora of opportunities in terms of interactivity.

Unfortunately the print visual communication has been ‘digitised’ on an i-pad or a tablet and has gone nowhere.

The pharma sector needs to adapt to a complete new and a fresh outlook on this. Also Multi-Channel Marketing (MCM) and Closed Loop Marketing (CLM) have caught up with the western world and will also change the way India pharma marketing operates.

Unfortunately, both the depth and the context of this have not been understood by pharma marketers completely.

CLM basically measures the results of marketing and communication initiatives by monitoring and tracking the response of the targeted groups. The evaluation of the results, such as interaction, surveys, perception towards a new drug, safety profile etc. helps to improve future marketing decisions. Proposed promotional campaigns can then continuously adapt to the customers’ wants and desires, creating a true relationship.

With doctors getting technologically savvy and patients increasingly searching for health information on the Internet, can the pharma industry leverage newer tools and media as a key differentiator?

Can it look beyond traditional methods of communication? Will pharma be able to stick its neck out and start interacting with patient communities? Will the mindset change from being a mere ‘drug manufacturer’ to partnering for ‘healthy outcomes’ ever happen?

(To be continued)

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