Spending on IT services and products among healthcare providers in SA, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE will grow by 70% over the next five years - expanding at 11.2% compound annual growth over the five-year period from 2013 to 2018.
This is according to an IDC Healthcare Insights report which notes spending on mobile devices and networking equipment will contribute significantly to overall hardware spending growth in all four markets.
"All of the four markets are set to grow at an impressive rate," says Nino Giguashvili, senior research analyst for IDC Health Insights. "While these markets present exceptional opportunities to healthcare IT suppliers across the whole ecosystem, it is the right time to focus on mobile solutions to healthcare providers' organisational needs, and Middle East and Africa's (MEA) healthcare challenges overall".
According to Giguashvili, favourable policy environments are the main determinants for IT investment growth in the healthcare sectors of the four MEA countries presented in the report.
Governments of these countries are putting immense efforts in ICT development of healthcare sectors, says Giguashvili. Importantly, they are allocating solid resources for healthcare ICT projects, she adds.
She believes mobile technology is revolutionising healthcare - with a variety of mobile health solutions playing a central role in improving timely access to adequate care.
Giguashvili notes mobile access to different clinical and enterprise software can help improve communication among healthcare providers, payers, community care organisations, and healthcare regulatory agencies. This will ensure better co-ordination and continuity of medical care, she adds.
"Various ICT solutions, including clinical decision support systems and tele-health solutions, will bring vast contributions to the management of various communicable and non-communicable diseases in MEA".
She notes improvements in the administration of healthcare services and technical efficiency will be felt relatively soon. But it will take some time till the ultimate impact on the health status indicators of the country populations overall is seen, adds Giguashvili.
Mobile technology will play particularly important role in improving medical care for remote populations in low-resource settings, where access to medical care is problematic - whether it's due to a lack of financial resources, human resources, healthcare facilities, states Giguashvili.
"Factors such as convenience for patients and clinical personnel are also playing an important role in the increasing use of mobile technologies in healthcare."
According to Giguashvili, concerns around the reliability, performance and security of mobile systems and networks are the main challenges deterring widespread adoption of mobile solutions in MEA healthcare. She believes the reliable performance of mobile-based systems and wireless networks are critical in the majority of healthcare settings.
Although investments in ICT by South African healthcare organisations seem adequate - there is still a lot of room for increasing IT investments, concludes Giguashvili.
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