Ganga Hospital teaches live

Ganga Hospital teaches live microsurgery using Microsoft Teams

Hand and Microsurgery Operative Course goes virtual on Microsoft Teams with attendees from across the world

COVID-19 has altered the way we work, learn and live. As frontline responders in the global health crisis, healthcare institutions have swiftly adopted collaborative tools and cloud-based solutions to ensure continuity in providing quality healthcare and regular learning for the medical fraternity.

With face-to-face teaching suspended during the enforced closure, Ganga Medical Centre & Hospital in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, was exploring ways to continue conducting their Hand and Microsurgery Operative Course. Leveraging the power of Microsoft Teams, the hospital conducted its annual learning conference on July 11 and 12 with more than 550 surgeons from 27 countries in attendance.

Ganga Hand and Microsurgery Operative course is an annual conference that covers discussion between the operating faculty and the delegates on aspects of hand surgery from a minor trigger finger to reattachment of a totally amputated finger. This year the course included examples of congenital hand problems, brachial plexus injuries, nerve injuries, wrist injuries and arthritis. The course is regularly attended by plastic surgeons and orthopaedic surgeons dealing with trauma and having special interest in hand surgery.

An on-ground videographer provided the live feed from specialized 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 voiceover added to the feed to explain nuances of surgical skills and techniques.

“COVID-19 brought physical conferences to a halt, with no one being sure of the resumption of previous normalcy.  Adapting to change is important to grow.  At Ganga, we wondered if we could still do the popular annual live hand operative course.  Instead of telecasting to our own auditorium, Microsoft Teams enabled us to telecast it to the world.  Around 20 hours of surgical demonstration was possible every day and we were able to demonstrate 21 procedures. Microsoft Teams’ high definition streaming was flawless, enabling surgeons view structures less than a mm in size, even better than being at Coimbatore.  We were impressed by the capability of the product and the passion of the support team at Quadra, who really helped us to reach out,” said Dr. S Raja Sabapathy, Chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery, Ganga Medical Centre & Hospital.

“Every crisis offers new learnings. Covid-19 is no different. This global crisis has made remote working, remote healthcare and remote learning the new normal. It is inspiring to see how our technology is helping healthcare institutions, doctors and hospital staff collaborate seamlessly to deliver top-notch services to patients and provide real time-learning even amid such difficult situations. Microsoft India is honored to enable remote healthcare, consultancy and telemedicine for many healthcare institutions. We are delighted to partner with Ganga Hospital in this unique project of a live interactive surgery to audiences across the world,” said Samik Roy, Country Head, Modern Work, Microsoft India.

“This is a fine example of how technology can rise to the occasion and solve real life problems. Our expertise as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, together with our track record of 16 years of winning global partner of the year awards at Microsoft Inspire, including the 2020 Inspire Partner of the Year Award in the Modern Work category, has helped us architect a solution with Microsoft Teams. We could not just replicate but bettered a real-life meeting experience for a conference that showcased very intricate and complex microsurgery procedures. We delivered high-quality video that could enable this experience as well as real-time audio for live Q&A for a rich viewing experience. To ensure a holistic experience for the doctors, our team rose to the occasion and delivered a seamless support experience across 20 hours of live surgery,” said Prashanth Subramanian, Co-Founder & Director, Quadra Systems.  

Healthcare institutions are reimagining the ways they treat their patients and help medical professionals learn new skills, irrespective of location. At Microsoft, we are committed to working with our partners in empowering every person and every organization to achieve more.

Fortis Healthcare adopts Microsoft Teams to continue

Fortis Healthcare adopts Microsoft Teams to continue providing care virtually

Virtual visits on Teams reduces COVID-19 risk for both patients and doctors

“We never give up on our patients. That’s our mission. To save and enrich lives,” says Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, managing director and CEO, Fortis Healthcare.

Never has this mission been more pronounced in Fortis Healthcare’s two-decade history, than it is now. As the COVID-19 lockdowns impacted physical visits across the country, Fortis Healthcare began looking for ways to still care for its patients, without putting them at risk that a hospital visit entails.

Established in 2001, Fortis Healthcare is one of India’s largest health services providers serving 2.5 million people annually via its network of 28 hospitals, over 410 diagnostic centers, and 9,000 potential beds spread across Indian metro cities.

The COVID-19 outbreak posed an entirely new challenge to the institution.

“It was very important for us that we continue to provide care to our patients,” says Ajay Vij, CIO, Fortis Healthcare. “At the same time, we did not want them to risk coming to the hospital unless in unavoidable circumstances. It not only puts the patients at risk but also the doctors and frontline staff who are working at the hospital.”

Indian medical laws forbade hospitals to provide virtual consultations to patients, but they had to relax the rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure continuity in serving their patients, Fortis Healthcare worked with Microsoft to deploy virtual visits on Teams. This enables patients to connect with doctors without having to step out of their homes.

It took the team at Fortis Healthcare just four days to implement Teams and start taking appointments from patients.

“In essential services, healthcare is at the top of the pyramid in the current health crisis,” says Jasrita Dhir, head of brand, marketing and CSR, Fortis Healthcare. “We went live with the system as soon as we could, and all consultations were free for the first few days. There was no question of delaying the launch of the platform.”

Microsoft Teams is HIPAA compliant, which ensures all patient information is managed privately and securely.

The doctor will see you now, virtually

To minimize inconvenience to its patients, Fortis Healthcare integrated telephonic and video consultations via Teams with their existing booking system. Patients book their appointments as usual, but they now receive a URL along with the time of the appointment. All they need to do is click on the link at the time of the appointment to talk to their doctor on Teams.

“Earlier, one would come on our website or app or called our call centre to book a physical consultation. The only thing that has changed is that now one gets the option to book a video or tele-consult based on their preference,” Dhir explains.

Depending on their case history, patients are asked to share diagnostics or other reports securely before the appointment. The doctor sees the patient, writes the prescription as usual, which is shared with the patient digitally.

“Teams has enabled our doctors who don’t need to be at the hospital to continue seeing their patients from their home, which reduces their risk of getting infected,” adds Vij.

In this new world order, where we don’t want our patients to unnecessarily be exposed to infections, our online video consults with the help of Microsoft Teams are a blessing.

– Dr Meenakshi Ahuja, Director – Obstetrics & Gynaecology,

Fortis La Femme

Doctors at Fortis Healthcare echo the sentiment. For instance, Obstetricians still have to go to the hospital to deliver babies, but they don’t have to physically see patients in their first or second trimester in most cases. With Teams, they have been able to reduce the risk of exposure both for themselves and expecting mothers.

Dr Meenakshi Ahuja, Director – Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Fortis La Femme, opines, “In this new world order, where we don’t want our patients to unnecessarily be exposed to infections, our online video consults with the help of Microsoft Teams are a blessing. Most problems including hormonal, abnormal uterine issues can be sorted on these consultations, and our advice prescriptions with investigations are mailed to the patients. Only if physical presence is required, we call in the patient for an examination, therefore visits to the hospital are reduced. In fact, even in pregnancy, the early pregnancy check-up and counselling can be done by us with the patient and her partner in the comfort of their homes. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and these online consultation systems are bound to stay with us for a long time”

During COVID-19, a lot of focus has shifted to mental health concerns of a population under lockdown.

“Tele-consultations have been a huge help during the COVID-19 crisis, it has helped patients especially in chronic care specialties like mental health allowing the maintenance and continuation of treatment process which is so vital to the well-being of patients. Tele-consultations also helped people stay at home, be safe and at the same time were able to connect to their psychiatrists, their psychologists and continue with their treatment. Both from safety and health point of view this has been a very positive initiative by the government to allow tele-consultations. Our team has been using Microsoft Teams and found it to be a user-friendly platform and for us confidentiality and privacy are very important elements, using Microsoft Teams helped us with that,” says Dr Samir Parikh, Director – Mental Health & Behavioural Sciences, Fortis Healthcare

“We have also conducted live events through Teams, and it has helped us reach out to a wider population to raise awareness on mental health issues. I feel live events on Microsoft Teams is a very good way to reach to a maximum audience,” he added.

Since deploying Teams in the last week of March, Fortis Healthcare has done more than 12,000 consultations virtually.

ALSO READ: Healthcare industry has accelerated tech adoption to fight against COVID-19: Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO, Fortis Healthcare

“In our endeavor to sustain our fight against the spread of COVID-19, we are bringing the expertise of our doctors to help you with any health issues right in the comfort of your home. As the proactive lockdown was necessary to fight off this pandemic, it must not be an excuse to delay any health consultations that our patients wanted to avail and, hence, is this solution. We believe that this is helpful for patients as well as their families without risking the much-needed social distancing for the patients, doctors and the healthcare staff,” adds Dr Raghuvanshi, the managing director and CEO of Fortis Healthcare.

“However, in emergency cases where clinicians feel it is necessary to physically examine the patient, e-consultations are not given. In those cases, an in-hospital consult where the doctor can do a physical examination is suggested. These are cases which require immediate and urgent medical intervention.” 

The new normal for healthcare

While authorities have relaxed laws on virtual consultations to ensure people have access to doctors during the current situation, healthcare providers like Fortis hope it continues in the post-COVID world too as they see numerous benefits including making quality healthcare accessible to everyone.

As we all adapt to the new post-COVID normal, maybe virtual healthcare will fit right into the plan.

New Microsoft 365 Personal and Family Subscriptions

New Microsoft 365 Personal and Family Subscriptions
now available in India

Microsoft 365 is now available in India. It is a refresh of Office 365, which provides users with new Artificial Intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences.

These experiences are being rolled out regionally and will reach over 38 million Office 365 subscribers globally in the next few months.

“We want to continue to empower everyone to remain connected with those who matter inside and outside of the workplace. The Microsoft 365 Family and Personal subscriptions will provide users with innovative experiences that enable them to co-author, video chat, organize, and come together with friends and their families anytime and anywhere,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, Windows and Devices Group.

Users can look forward to two new Microsoft 365 experiences from today.  Firstly, a new Microsoft Family Safety app designed to keep families safe across the digital and physical worlds. Microsoft will also launch Microsoft Teams later this year for users to stay connected with their family and friends. There will also be new features in Microsoft Teams that make it easier to connect organize and collaborate with family and friends.

The new Microsoft Edge browser also takes a step forward with new features to protect users on the web with Password Monitor, and to simplify research with Collections. You can learn more about all the new Edge features here, as well as the entire suite of new features available with Microsoft 365 below.

• AI-Powered Microsoft Editor: To help people put their best foot forward at home and at work, Microsoft Editor – an AI-powered service available in more than 20 languages – is now accessible across Word and Outlook.com, and as a standalone browser extension for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers have access to advanced grammar and style refinements such as rewrite suggestions and additional style critiques to allow greater clarity and conciseness.

• Presenter Coach Features in PowerPoint: An AI-powered Presenter that helps correct monotone pitch and refine speeches. This will be available as a free preview, and then eventually only to Microsoft 365 subscribers.

• PowerPoint Designer: This feature effectively boosts creativity, such as transforming text into a beautiful timeline, or even auto-generated slide layouts. Microsoft is also providing Microsoft 365 subscribers with exclusive access to over 8,000 beautiful images and 175 looping videos from Getty Images, plus 300 new fonts, 2,800 new icons to create high-impact and visually appealing documents.

• New Data Types and Smart Templates in Excel: This presents a different and less time-consuming way to interact with data, providing deeper meaning for over 100 topics. Microsoft 365 subscribers have exclusive access to the over 100 new data types powered by Wolfram Alpha.

• Organizing Time Across Work and Life with Outlook: New features in Outlook on the web help users manage all commitments, across work and life, in one place. With these new features, they can link their personal calendar to their work calendar to show their real availability, while still maintaining their privacy.

• Deepen Connections with Family and Friends with Skype and Microsoft Teams:

Skype has seen an increase in usage with 40 million people using it daily, up 70% month over month and, we are seeing a 220% increase in Skype to Skype calling minutes month over month. To help people get connected even faster, Microsoft recently introduced a new feature in Skype called Meet Now, that allows users to easily connect over video (for free) with up to 50 people in just a few clicks.

• Protecting Families in the Physical and Digital Worlds with Microsoft Family Safety: Coming soon is the Microsoft Family Safety app, a new mobile experience on iOS and Android for Microsoft 365 subscribers. The application empowers families in a variety of ways with both free and premium offerings, including managing screen time across Windows PCs, Android and Xbox.