We need to relook at healthcare with new lenses

As the world's population grows wealthier, and people enjoy longer lives, the demand for better healthcare rises.

Chronic diseases, especially the "diseases of the rich" — heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer — surge.

Frequent health emergencies like the current coronavirus haemorrhages an already fragile health system.

Effectively harnessed, information and communication technologies can play a central role in forestalling burdensome diseases and in providing cost-effective treatment.

What's lacking is action mainly to empower people to take charge of their health. Here are a few low-hanging fruits that promise big benefits.

The evolution of wearable technologies such as smartwatches, activity monitors and mobile phones offers the global community unprecedented tools to track health at an individual level.

If widely used, they can make populations more conscious of their health. A health-conscious community is the best arsenal against troubling preventable diseases.

Well used, technology can, for instance, help healthcare providers to extend their services to their patients' in their homes after they are discharged.

They can use technology to remotely monitor and track their patients' health without having to make needless trips to a clinic to see their doctor.

Patients can track their vital signs using, say, a Fitbit or a smartwatch, and report the data to their health provider.

Such measures empower the patient who, in turn, helps the doctor to make timely and informed decisions on the best care for the patient, and saves money.

Using such devices, far-flung, deprived health facilities can connect and access the services of top-notch health experts.

Supported by robust electronic communication between a doctor and a patient, the virtual visit can be seamless, almost like a "face-to-face" visit.

On their part, aided by computerised management information systems, health clinics can collect and analyse patient-specific data and use it to learn more about their patients' illnesses and lifestyles.

These more refined data provide researchers with essential insights that help them fashion better medicines and forge ways to forestall deadly diseases before they strike.

The players in the health sector — health providers, insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and the patients themselves — need to look at health with a new pair of lenses.

Insurers, for example, should not be mere money collectors. They can play their part by helping their clients to remain healthy.

For instance, offer loyalty rewards to their clients who eat healthily, exercise regularly, and shun harmful behaviours like taking too much alcohol or smoking.

The government must leave the safe harbour of conventional thinking. It must fine-tune its workforce in tandem with the fleeting technology.

It must facilitate stakeholders in re-writing the "rules of engagement" suitable for a sector disrupted by technology, but one that needs it the most.