By Christopher Saul, Territory Sales Lead for East Africa at Red Hat
Today, information technology plays an important role in the provision of healthcare. Kenya has recognised that role and, as a result, has made IT and overall digital transformation a primary ingredient for reforming its healthcare sector. Just recently, telecommunications firm Safaricom announced it was partnering with other sector stakeholders to introduce an integrated healthcare information technology system (IHTS), with a key component of the project being the establishment of a health information exchange that enhances interoperability between healthcare systems and access and unification of patient data.
Central to all of these plans and efforts is cloud computing, with cloud infrastructure and platforms serving as the foundation for a state-of-the-art nationwide digital healthcare ecosystem. But more than that, Kenya’s embrace of digital technologies needs to fuel a drive to increase operational efficiency and open the door to new solutions, especially as technological trends such as artificial intelligence (AI) reshape how people use and interact with public systems and services.
A for Accessibility
Kenya’s growing cloud market has enabled industries to rethink their relationship with enterprise IT, especially given that it offers a greater level of accessibility to basic computational resources. Cloud-based applications and data are accessible from virtually any internet-connected device. This is a significant advantage for the healthcare industry where facilities such as rural clinics may not have adequate access to the hardware they need, or be capable of running large, on-premise IT systems. In short, cloud computing enables healthcare providers to deliver essential services regardless of their geographic location.
Cloud computing is also an exercise in reducing costs. Without the need for on-premise IT systems while retaining the ability to scale IT operations, healthcare organisations can maximise the use of their IT budgets. Furthermore, by partnering with a cloud service provider, organisations can outsource the administrative and maintenance responsibilities of their infrastructure, freeing their human resources up to focus on more important tasks.
Breaking down data siloes
Healthcare is an industry that can be severely affected by data siloes. With systems, applications, and databases operating independently from one another, organisations can suffer consequences such as incomplete or inaccurate patient data, limited oversight on the part of healthcare professionals and system administrators, and increased costs. And remember, a simple trip to your local clinic can involve multiple systems, ranging from appointment scheduling and patient profiling, to billing and medication distribution.
Through the effective gathering of data and the consolidation of multiple systems onto a single platform, cloud computing can eliminate data siloes throughout an organisation’s IT footprint, making it easier to share information across various facilities and departments. This can lead to increases in general productivity, improved time and resource allocation, and the ability to coordinate care between healthcare providers and offer an enhanced patient experience.
Eliminating siloes also gives organisations the ability to extract new value from the data they accumulate and process. In addition to being more secure than siloed systems owing to centralised data management and security controls, cloud services and analytics can help organisations unearth new insights in their data that can lead to new business optimisations and new product and service offerings.
A dose of intelligence
With the global AI healthcare market expected to be worth almost half a trillion dollars by 2032, Kenya’s healthcare sector needs to take action now to capitalise on the trend and establish infrastructure that facilitates the development and use of AI-enabled applications.
Examples of potential AI implementations in healthcare encompass all kinds of business functions. Using the technology, healthcare employees can automate administrative tasks, help with note-taking and summarising content, and accurately share information between departments. Providers can deploy virtual chatbots and assistants that can provide patients with useful information, schedule appointments, and advise them when to take prescribed medication.
These examples of AI use cases are now within reach for healthcare providers of all shapes and sizes thanks to integrations in established cloud-based platforms and services. Though organisations will also retain the option to keep working with on-premise systems, a hybrid cloud approach means they can leverage the full benefits of the cloud – availability, flexibility, and scalability – when developing and deploying their own AI-enabled applications and solutions. With a forward-thinking approach and an eye on the cloud, Healthcare in Kenya has the potential to embody the qualities of accessibility, consistency, and innovation.
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