Recent research from Frost & Sullivan finds that telemedicine adoption is increasing in South Africa thanks to the infrastructural developments and the need to extend services to under-served rural areas.
The focus on primary healthcare will drive telemedicine programs in South Africa as the Government rolls out the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, the new analysis from Frost & Sullivan, “Telemedicine Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said.
One of the key benefits of implementing telemedicine is that it can address the challenges associated with shortage of doctors in rural areas, which impedes the progress of primary healthcare delivery in rural areas.
Telemedicine, according to Frost & Sullivan, solves this challenge by making use of cost-effective telecommunications technologies, to deliver healthcare services to patients in rural areas.Frost & Sullivan, however, finds the greatest challenge in implementing telemedicine solutions is lack of connectivity and high costs of communication in rural areas. Providing broadband access in rural areas remains a challenge and transmission costs are high.
While there has been tremendous progress in the field of telecommunications, particularly from an infrastructural perspective, bandwidth costs remain high in South Africa. Most infrastructure rollouts in the region have been in metropolitan areas, leaving rural areas with little or no connectivity. Innovative partnerships between government, telecom companies and other participants need to be harnessed to create cost-effective telemedicine solutions, according to the research.
"Government recognition of the meaningful role that telemedicine can play in strengthening primary care, will be key to its development," said Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies industry analyst Ishe Zingoni, in a statement.
"As the South African Government revamps the country’s healthcare system, strengthening the primary health system has been identified as a key priority to ensure the successful implementation of the NHI," Zingoni added.
Encouraging public-private partnerships will result in offering cost-effective healthcare solutions. For example, by partnering with telecom operators, government could provide dedicated bandwidth for use in telemedicine projects.
In addition to South Africa, the study analyzes markets in Nigeria, Kenya, Mali and Cameroon.In August, MarketResearch.com MarketResearch.com added the report, “Global Telemedicine Market 2010-2014," to their collection of Information Technology market reports.
According to this report, global telemedicine market is expected to grow 19 percent annually through 2011. A key driver contributing to this growth is the Federal grants offered in the U.S. The telemedicine market has also been witnessing an increase in strategic partnerships.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for HealthTechZone. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Jennifer Russell
