In Asia's healthcare industry, technological advances
When it comes to healthcare, Asia has experienced remarkable development throughout the years. Several Asian countries, namely Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, and Taiwan, are considered to possess medically advanced facilities and for attracting patients from all over the world as medical tourism centres. The rise of healthtech, or the use of technology to advance the practice of medicine, is partly responsible for Asia’s rapid expansion in the healthcare industry. Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asian countries. Medical wearables, centralised databases, medical applications, artificial intelligence(AI), and mobile developments, among other technical advancements, make up the healthtech business,which is continually growing and evolving.
WEARABLE MEDICAL DEVICES
Many patients with pre-existing diseases, primarily the elderly, are already being fitted with wearable medical devices across Asia. Patients with diabetes, for example, are fitted with continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), which are small, wearable devices that allow for constant monitoring of a patient’s blood sugar levels. This data can be directly transmitted to a smartphone or smartwatch and shared with medical personnel or the patient’s caregiver.
China, India, and Japan are estimated to contribute considerably to Asia Pacific's market share of around US$3.2 billion while Medical wearable gadgets containing microchips and sensors are expected to reach US$61.4 billion in the next five years, according to estimates. However, these estimates are expected to rise even more, given that the digital healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific area, in both established and developing countries, has grown at an exponential rate as a result of COVID-19’s popularity.
TELEMEDICINE
In order to slow the spread of the pandemic, many Asian countries have implemented telemedicine. Mobile applications, such as Dr. World, Doctor Anywhere, Halodoc, and others have caused a stir in the region by allowing individuals to receive medical care from doctors via video conferences. In 2018, it was reported that Halodoc, an Indonesian telemedicine app, was receiving "thousands of consultations every day" and had 2 million users. In the face of the pandemic, they now have over 7.2 million users and have seen a 300 % rise in mobile app downloads. Similarly, Alodoktor, a telemedicine program, reported a 50% rise in users.
The advantage of these methods allowed Indonesians to get the information they needed right away, rather than having to wait for a doctor, allowing doctors to focus on more pressing situations. Telemedicine is not just common and its neighboring nations; it is also common in growing Asian countries like as Vietnam, Thailand, and others.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
When it comes to the application of AI, it isn’t only restricted to chatbots and mobile apps. In reality, AIways used in the construction of a Robot Roving Doctor (Rovidoc) to replace a doctor in the Philippines, as the country attempted to reduce COVID-19 exposure for its doctors.
Interestingly, in Wuhan, China, the virus’s epicenter, the government established a hospital run by robots and using internet of things (IoT) equipment. Patients wore wearable medical devices that registered their temperature and vital signs, which were monitored by robots who alerted the human medical team if someone required rapid medical attention, owing to AI. Disinfecting, medicine dispensing, food services, and even information services were all provided by the robots, thus limiting any unnecessary human exposure to the virus. The success of this field hospital in China, as well as the Rovidoc in the Philippines, is a sign of things to come as technology advances throughout Asia. With the presence of 5G technology and IoT, the intricacies surrounding the use of AI in the health tech industry will become further refined and more widespread.
