Introduction:
In today’s world, technology plays a pivotal role in all sorts of industry and our personal lives too. Life without technology is something we cannot think about in the 21st century. Even in the sector of healthcare technology possesses a better place and saves countless numbers of lives which cannot be saved only by manual skill and knowledge.
Medical technology is a developing field now and it permits the physician to do much better diagnosis.
It contributes to the early and meticulous diagnosis of health problems within a stipulated time and advanced outcome.
What is Medical Technology and its importance?
According to the European trade association, MedTech Europe, “medical technology is any technology used to save lives or transform the health of individuals suffering from a wide range of conditions. In its many forms, medical technology is already diagnosing, monitoring, and treating virtually every disease or condition that affects us. For the sake of this document, medical technology includes medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices.”
The ambit of medical technology is too wide. From the invention of a toothbrush to a pacemaker, everything comes under medical technology.[1]
The application of this technology saves billions of lives. If we go through the mortality rate, we can find that it follows a downward curve. This is because of the advancement of medical technology. The dying and suffering of people due to acute diseases is minimum. Illness and injuries like cancer, brain hemorrhage are being cured fully with the support of the technology in the healthcare sector.
Detecting diseases and diagnosis is becoming easier day by day and henceforth the entire procedure of the treatment goes well.
New Invented Areas
Against the backdrop of health care reform and a controversial medical device tax, medical technology companies are focusing more than ever on products that deliver cheaper, faster, more efficient patient care. And contributes significantly to this total execution. In recent decades, medical technology has raised its strata to an optimum position which enhanced the total health sector throughout the world. Among them which deserve special mention are as follow:
- ROBOTIC SURGERY: It is a surgical procedure that is done using robotic techniques and machinery. Robotically-assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery. But this surgery is quite painful and annually reports physical discomfort and infections.
More placid execution should be carried on to increase the success rate of the surgery. - HEALTH WEARABLES: This particular technology is facing a great demand in the medical sector. We often use a fitness watch or phone to count the number of steps we covered or the amount of calories we burnt after a workout. This is only the health wearables.
In 2018, APPLE gave an advertisement with their groundbreaking Apple Series 4 Watch that possesses an inbuilt ECG to determine the wearer’s heart rhythm. These innovations help a person to monitor their heart rhythms, rising or falling blood sugar level and as a result help to advance their fitness.[2] - ARTIFICIAL ORGAN: it is often heard that people who lost their organs due to chronic surgeries have been implanted with an artificial one. This is because of this technology which provides synthetic organs like blood vessels, ovaries. The ability to provide artificial organs that are not rejected by the immune system of the body of the patient is beyond imagination. Medical professionals are using this technology to save millions of lives.
- CRISPR: Genetic engineering and technology are age-old processes. But Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is the most recent and advanced technology in genetic engineering. It works by suppressing the original mechanisms of the immune systems of bacterium cells of the viruses invading the body, which is then able to ‘cut out’ infected DNA strands. This cutting of DNA is what has the power to transform the way we treat disease. By modifying genes, some of the biggest threats to our health, like cancer and HIV, could potentially be reduced in a matter of years
- TELEHEALTH: In today’s time when the entire world is combatting a pandemic situation, people are afraid of going outside and especially to the hospitals and clinics for check-ups, TELEHEALTH is the most desirable technique for us.
It is operated by some online applications where we can consult with doctors face to face virtually through digital devices without waiting for long appointments.
The telehealth system gives patients different access points to healthcare services even to the patient suffering from chronic diseases. It is a convenient and cost-effective method.
The global telemedicine market is expected to be worth $113.1 billion in the coming 5 years. - NEEDLE FREE DIABETES CARE: The diabetic people who take insulin in their bodies are supposed to take by a pen-like needle as a process of injection. But technology came up with an innovation that can reduce their pain of injecting the needle. A special needle-free nozzle has been introduced. By pressing insulin through the nozzle orifice, a minute stream of the dose will penetrate the skin.
- 3D PRINTING: We could not have imagined a surgery without stitches until the idea of 3D printing came. 3D printers are used to create implants and even joints during the surgery.
Not only this, but it is also used to print pills that contain multiple drugs, which will be convenient for the patient to monitor various illnesses by taking a single pill. It cites a perfect example of the coexistence of technology and medication.[3] - CUTTING BACK ON MELANOMA BIOPSIES: Melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer. The doctors can’t detect whether melanoma’s dangerous-looking moles are harmful or not. It needs a surgical biopsy. But today dermatologists are having a helping hand in making the right cell – a tool for multispectral analysis of tissue morphology which refrain surgical biopsy to detect the evilness of the melanoma scars approved by the Food and Drug Administration of Us.
The aim is to decrease the number of patients left with unnecessary biopsy scars, with the added benefit of eliminating the cost of unnecessary procedures.[4]
Medical Technology & Bioethics
Medical technology Law is a prerequisite of introduction to the Medical Technology with science. But there’s no such codified law particularly for MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY only some statutory provisions are led to the use of technological devices. They are as follows:
- The devices used for internal and external use for diagnosis, surgery, treatment, or prevention of the disorder in humans as well as animals which the government has been notifying and specifying under the DCA. Certain categories have already been recognized.
- Certain substances/devices which used to affect the function or structure of humans, those as well have been recognized by the government under the DCA. Such substances can be intrauterine, condoms, disinfectants, insecticides, etc.,
- Substances used in surgeries like surgical (dressing, bandages, staples, sutures, ligatures), blood and blood components bags.
- Devices used in vitro diagnosis.
However, the categories mentioned above come under the ambit of the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR).[5]
Yet, it exclusively follows bioethics. It involves the rights and obligations of the health sector and the medical professionals have, when they use technology to carry the treatment using the technology.
It speaks to the moral status of human beings in course of the treatment. It ensures the proper allocation of resources for the treatment and human sanctity. So that, no rights or dignity of the patient get hampered during the treatment by medical technology.
Necessity
As evidence of the industry’s commitment to innovation, in 2013 more than 10,000 patent applications were filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) in the field of medical technology, equivalent to 7 % of the total number of applications — more than any other technical field.[6] This shows the importance and necessity of medical technology.
In this progressive world, technology is the greatest attribute of human life. Without the continuous innovations and use of technology, human civilization would have doomed.
Technology has been contributing its dole in every aspect of human life and health is an integrated part of human life. So the use of technology in the health sector should be a matter of mandate.
With the help of technology, the medical professionals can handily tackle the patient and cure their illness.
There was a time the chances of survival of cancer patients were minimum. But if we go through the statistics, the mortality rate of the cancer patient is decreasing. This is because of the innovations like chemotherapy, ray therapy, and other technology associated treatments.
From a normal blood test to recognize the exact disease to a dialysis, all are the boon of medical technology,
Without the technology-related treatment, medical science would not have reached the goal is achieved and would have remained far away from skillfully saving human lives from rare diseases. In brief medical technology plays a key role in the health sector nowadays.
Conclusion
“Health is a state of complete harmony of the body, mind, and spirit. When one is free from physical disabilities and mental distractions, the gates of the soul open.”
B.K.S. Iyengar
Good health is an indispensable part of the human soul. To maintain conformity between body and spirit good health is essential.
Good health can be gained through routine life and proper treatment in need.
This proper treatment includes the technology along with the skill of the medical professionals.
Medical technology is something which stands higher than the individual skillfulness of the medical professionals. When a doctor fails to comprehend illness from the symptoms of the patient, technology overcomes this backdrop with its extent.
A single technical error in the report of medical tests can kill a life, the same way a perfect medical report which came up from the test can save a life.
The manner in which technology grasped the life of layman, likewise it made the diagnosis process for the doctor as well as the patient easiest.
So it is excess of uttering that medical technology is of prior necessity in human lives and with the flow of time it will broaden its ambit and will firmly hold the most important place in human lives.
References:
[1] Björn Magnusson, What is Medical Technology?, AMB (15 Jan. 2019), https://amb.se/en/2019/01/15/what-is-medical-technology/.
[2] Monique Ellis, Top 10 Medical Technologies, Proclinic, (27 Feb. 2019) https://www.proclinical.com/blogs/2019-2/top-10-new-medical-technologies-of-2019.
[3] id.
[4] Techmezine, Cutting Back On Melanoma Biopsies, Techmezine, https://www.techmezine.com/latest-medical-technology-news/cutting-back-melanoma-biopsies/.
[5] Diganth Raj Sehgal, Medical Technology and Laws, Ipleaders, (18 Aug 2020), https://blog.ipleaders.in/medical-technologies-laws/.
[6] id.
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