While the world is busy coping up with the devastation COVID-19 pandemic is thrusting upon industries, economies, and lives of people, on the other hand, it is reshaping healthcare technology, is finally coming out of its seed and growing. The COVID-19 battle has pushed the countries to upgrade their healthcare technologies and other fields of tech. But all of this is happening too fast and while this may be good news during a worldwide lockdown, this dramatic change will surely create a new world after the dust settles.
Pandemics and healthcare crises in the past have been continuously hammering people and governments all over the world to take public health seriously. But none of them could provide a boost to people to take initiatives. COVID-19 not only provided this boost but also made people realize the value of investments in public health systems, sanitation, disease surveillance, and improving life expectancy. As technology plays a vital role in epidemic responses and public health management, it needs to be powerful enough to save lives. Here is how the COVID-19 is reshaping healthcare technology:
Telemedicine growth
Healthcare organizations have long waited to implement on-demand virtual care. After COVID-19 kept on spreading the organizations had no option but to reboot their systems and enable telemedicine platforms throughout their systems. Every government is also trying to invest in telemedicine to curb the virus. Telemedicine and remote monitoring have seen a huge rise. Doctors and patients are communicating through messages, video conferencing, and phone calls.
It is time for Digital transformation in healthcare
Digital transformation in healthcare is necessary for efficient healthcare delivery and to prepare themselves for future digital trends. New initiatives to manage the crisis that might sustain even after the pandemic will require intensified work right now. The merger of the IT sector and healthcare will build a long road towards a concrete and new-age healthcare system.
Cybersecurity and privacy may take a serious hit
Cybersecurity and privacy of data have been the issue since technology entered healthcare. Till now, most of the health systems have saved themselves from any major cybersecurity attacks or data hacking. But this won’t be the case forever, sooner or later cybercriminals will undermine the digital security walls. The large-scale virtual workforce leaves the system vulnerable to threats that will affect patient data and exploitation of it.
The world will never be the same again
Clearly, the uproar in nearly every country over the lack of equipment and supplies to check for and defend against COVID-19 would lead countries to re-examine their supply chains for essential goods related to health and livelihood. Realizing that a pandemic’s economic costs will be massive, far surpassing investments in science and prevention. This realization will result in billions of dollars of investment in research, vaccinations, therapeutics, and non-medical preventive methods.
The Covid-19 apocalypse provides an opportunity to reshape healthcare in ways that just a few months ago might not have seemed feasible. With every country realizing its fragilities and inadequacies in the medical system, the world is now ready to change its way of healthcare delivery and maintenance.
