Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare
As per WHO, almost half of the world lacks access to essential health services and over 100 million are pushed into poverty due to out-of-pocket health expenses. This stark reality was brought to the forefront during the pandemic very strongly with public healthcare systems across the world collapsing to manage and cater to increasing demands. More than ever the need to make quality healthcare affordable and accessible on time has been felt strongly.
While it is important to increase healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP by the developing countries, the key to the penetration is digitization. This will make at least primary healthcare available even in the remotest corners of the world through the ubiquitous mobile phones.
As we step into 2022, with renewed vigor to deliver our Caring Mission with a Global Vision to serve the world with quality healthcare that is affordable and accessible, we at Aster DM Healthcare remain at the forefront of adopting digital technology. We hope this will help us to enable access to millions to our services in a cost-effective way. As a blessing in disguise, Covid-19 has played the role of a catalyst in pushing the sector to innovate and come up with need-of-the-hour solutions.
We anticipate the following trends to gain momentum and define the future of healthcare.
Seamless patient experience through Omni Channel
With patients increasingly wanting to access healthcare services from the comfort of their homes or work, many hospitals and healthcare providers have pivoted with the implementation of digitized, virtual solutions to strengthen logistics and serve customers remotely. This model of care enables provider communities to reach a wider customer base beyond geographical boundaries with virtual care. This OmniChannel ensures delivery of cost-effective care like consultation, investigation, delivery of medicines, and home care, without adding expensive physical infrastructure
Telemedicine, Remote Monitoring
Telehealth, remote monitoring, E-ICU care, Teleradiology, Tele-pathology will see many countries come to the forefront to take on outsourced services at low cost with better qualitative and quantitative efficiency. UAE can emerge as the clinical excellence hub for patients from Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent which is serving more than 1 billion population. Visit the hospitals can be reduced to major medical problems and follow-up can be carried out remotely.
The pandemic proved to be a huge impetus as Clinicians and Patients both realized that through the use of technology they can easily reach and engage with each other while remaining safe. At Aster DM Healthcare, we saw a sharp uptick in the demand for telemedicine services which enabled us to onboard 800 doctors across GCC and India who managed to provide more than 100,000 consultations within just 8 months of service introduction.
Smart Hospitals or Hospitals 4.0
According to the UN, the world population is expected to exceed 8.5 billion people by 2030, and by 2050, the number of people over the age of 60 will double in comparison to 2015. The age group of 60+ is also the population segment that requires the most amount of medical care, hospitalization, and care continuum.
To be able to meet this growing need with available resources, hospital systems will be required to undergo digital transformation and introduce ‘smart’ infrastructure through extensive use of emergent technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, and Internet of Things (IOT), to create more integrated and efficient spaces, suited to the needs of the patients and the providers.
This also led to the adoption of Smart hospital systems and electronic medical record systems, with regulators working alongside insurance payers to drive standardization and automation. This has already brought in efficiency in terms of operational excellence, better utilization of resources and available manpower, addressing one of the key concerns of many healthcare providers regarding high operational costs and limited availability of talented healthcare professionals to serve patients. This has also laid the grounds for a more sustainable future for the healthcare business.
Staying ahead of the curve
Digital Transformation is the game-changer in healthcare which is set to revolutionize healthcare delivery. The transformation is expected to be positive and solve many of the issues deterring wider and affordable access. Healthcare providers who do not evolve and adapt to the changing times will fall behind in the race and become extinct. The Healthcare technology space is becoming increasingly popular with start-ups and SMEs innovating as per market pulse and introducing quick solutions.
The future of healthcare is shaping up in front of us. You will see humanoid robots in many hospitals — many will be unseen, sitting inside computers and providing diagnosis and treatment protocols to help the doctors. Wearables and trackers with remote monitoring have already become quite popular and will increase significantly. 3D printing of organs, Remote Robotic Surgeries, genomic sequencing and treatment of genetic diseases through crisper technology, focus on nanotechnology in diagnosis and treatment, personalized medicine depending on your genetic structure, etc. will be commonplace.
The healthcare sector has lagged behind in digitalization in the last 50 years when many other sectors like banking, retail, etc leapfrogged. Healthcare is catching up and shall be the focus in the next 10 years with a major transformation through innovation happening in the decade, which will have a major impact on the healthcare of the world population.
