Indian Medical Association prescribes IT skills for doctors

The national unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to make its two lakh members across the country, especially senior medical practitioners, more tech savvy.

“We have noticed that, unlike young medical professionals, senior doctors by and large lack computer proficiency. They still use paper and pen for their daily records. The project will help such doctors cope with the competitive world and become tech savvy,” said national vice-president of IMA, Dr Devendra Shirole.

He told DNA, “Short contact programmes of four days will be organised at all local branches of the IMA. Doctors will be trained on how to use information technology for the betterment of medical profession and patents’ data collection.”

He said the doctors will be also trained on using e-books in their daily practice. “The IMA will launch this project initially in Maharashtra and the inauguration will take place in Mumbai. Groups, formed for research purposes, will use information technology to study diseases and viruses. With such a huge network, many doctors will be able to contribute from various parts of the country. This will help us in building a database and study new diseases,” he said.

Talks are on with software companies for providing technical support and training for doctors. “These companies will be also host power point presentations and build web pages for us,” he added.