Information and Communication Technology in Healthcare Management Systems: Prospects for Developing Countries

Abstract

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are being widely used in healthcare management systems. Rapid advancements in ICT in the last decade or so provide solutions to the problems in healthcare management systems. These include a wide spectrum of issues such as patient safety, dietary management, telemedicine, digital imaging, document management etc. This paper explores the emerging technologies which are being used for the improvement of the healthcare process and identify the problems and their probable solutions specifically in the context of developing countries. Telemedicine offers a way of improving the standard of healthcare especially in the developing world. The developing countries such as Pakistan, can exploit these to give better healthcare services as well health education. This paper highlights the growth of ICT sector in the developing world and explores its possible uses in health sector. These may help healthcare professionals and community health workers to carry out their work in a better way particularly in remote areas.