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New digital tools will continue to shape the future of care delivery methods

Sun 25 Dec 2022    
EcoBalance
| 3 min read

World: Though the global economic slowdown has upended plans to maintain pandemic levels of healthcare spending, the healthcare industry will continue to see a massive wave of investment, innovation and new entrants from the technology, telecom and consumer industries in the coming years.

The pandemic is now two years old. We are all familiar with the crisis, but how has it impacted innovation and what is the future outlook, especially in the healthcare sector?

Most obviously, the industry has seen a massive wave of investment, innovation and new entrants from the technology, telecom and consumer industries. In 2021 alone, $44 billion (AED161b) was raised globally in health innovation – twice as much as 2020 – and the acquisition of health and health tech companies rose 50 percent. We’re also seeing signs of disruption within the industry itself. Healthcare providers are planning to invest in technologies including digital health, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, as well as tools to support clinical staff and caregivers over the next five years.

As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, new digital tools will shape the future of care delivery methods, payments and health records. Capital flowing into the space will continue to propel innovation, consolidation and optimisation. 

In the UAE, over the last decade, the healthcare industry has emerged as one of the key industrial sectors for economic growth. The country has been ranked sixth globally for medical tourism. And, similar to global industry trends, Covid became the catalyst for digital transformation in the UAE as well though the country rapidly embraced technological advancements in a much better way because of the regulatory involvement and supportive governance models.

Technologically speaking, approximately 90 per cent of doctors in the UAE use smartphones and medical apps to provide healthcare. And for this reason, telehealth has emerged as an important communication and treatment tool. It has become a gateway to how healthcare will be delivered in the future and has also enabled the transition to consumer-centric care paradigms. The UAE government also supports the establishment of a telematics infrastructure and the advancement of telemedicine applications with the aim of country-wide provision of healthcare services in the long term through various initiatives.

The telehealth market in UAE, alone, is forecasted to reach over $536.5 million (AED1b) by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 25 per cent from 2020 to 2025. The highest-growing segment within telehealth will be the virtual visit market, which is expected to grow from $73.5 million (AED296m) in 2020 to $280.7 million (AED1b) by 2025, representing a CAGR of 30.7 per cent.

These technological advancements and interconnectivity have set a solid foundation for global medical tourism. According to a report by World Economic Forum, the post-pandemic global medical tourism market is expected to boom, growing from just under $14 billion (AED188b) in 2021 to $53.5 billion (AED169b) in 2028, with an average annual growth rate exceeding 20 per cent. In the UAE, medical tourism is developing at a supersonic speed. Partly due to its central location, technological advancements, state-of-the-art healthcare infrastructure, and multilingual medical staff, the UAE is an easy stop for visitors. According to the US-based Medical Tourism Association, the country ranked first in GCC for the best medical tourism destination globally in 2021. The medical tourism industry in the UAE generated AED 12.1 billion ($3.29 billion) in 2018, witnessing a 5.5 per cent annual growth rate.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the major hotspots for medical tourists and have an extensive network of hospitals and medical centres that offer quality primary, secondary, tertiary as well as quaternary care. Hospitals in the UAE are JCI accredited and have the most up-to-date surgical equipment and innovative technologies for cancer and other treatments allowing international medical tourists to book a consultation and even make reservations remotely from their home countries before their travel. The UAE government has also launched medical tourism portals that let international medical tourist book procedures and access a wide range of tourism services. Even during the pandemic, the UAE stood as one of the safest nations, signifying its medical infrastructure’s strength and resilience.

While standalone companies are making considerable investments, regional governments and public-private partnerships are also playing a huge role in adopting technological advancements for greater human benefit. Aster DM Healthcare to has played a key role in the advancement of technological services in the country. In fact, the healthcare group was one of the first to support the community by offering quality healthcare and telemedicine services to patients in the UAE. As the UAE advances technologically in healthcare, the work in the future will be to create an infrastructure and platforms that allow for seamless and holistic care across different care settings.

1Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman and MD, Aster DM Healthcare. Jan 22

This article is contributed by Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman & Managing Director, Aster DM Healthcare.

Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed in The Brew Opinion – our opinion section – are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TheBrewNews.com, the company, or any of its members.


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