We landed at a brand new, modern airport outside the city. A 10-lane highway led us to HITEC City, the industrial area in Hyderabad where many global IT companies have established an office. Once there, I still recognized little to nothing from prior visits. New roads, new offices, new shopping centers, everything changed!

Compared to Hyderabad, Mumbai seemed relatively the same. But that's just the surface. In fact, Mumbai is expanding at a breathtaking pace. VitalHealth also opened a modern office space in Mumbai not too long ago, in which we're employing well over 40 colleagues. Our India office co-develops solutions for our customers in the Netherlands, the US and the Middle-East, as well as for several local healthcare organizations.

"The mental care sector in the Netherlands will need to cover 33% of healthcare budget cuts", the newspapers told me upon my return to the Netherlands. That is a significant challenge. But it does not compare to the challenge that mental care facilities in India are facing. One of my most fascinating meetings was with the medical director of Thane Mental Hospital, one of the largest mental care facilities in Asia with about 1900 beds. Some of the issues there sounded familiar to me, such as an increasing prevalence of psychological problems; programs to improve coordination and cooperation with first line support, reduction in the number of beds; a need for more ambulatory care; increased focus on prevention; and the use of the Internet to improve education.

But how should all that be realized when there are practically no computer systems available? As part of a government EHR initiative, the mental care sector in the Netherlands recently chose to stick with the current breed of older EHR technology. In India, having that choice would be considered a luxury. They only have one option: to take a leap forward. And VitalHealth will be there to help.

Laurens van der Tang
CEO, VitalHealth Software