African Design Magazine April 2015 | Page 67

Feature: Healthcare MEDICAL CITIES pay out of pocket. These facilities need to look to new innovations to enhance and streamline these trends so that the services are efficient and accessible to all. But the mere possibility of medical tourism is starting to change healthcare in unexpected ways. The biggest gains have gone not to patients, insurers or governments, but to hospitals, which have calculated that they could win more business by reversing the trend and going abroad to find patients. America’s Cleveland Clinic will open a branch in Abu Dhabi next year. It already manages Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, a 750-bed hospital in Abu Dhabi. Singapore’s Parkway Health has set up hospitals across Asia. India’s Apollo Hospitals, a chain of private hospitals, has a branch in Mauritius. The health concerns of local citizens can vary drastically across regions and borders, there is a need for innovative diagnostic solutions tailored to local circumstances to deliver convenient, rapid, accurate, user-friendly and cost effective solutions. The business opportunity In a recent report we conducted with Hitachi, we defined Social Innovation as “the deployment of technology and new business models to bring about real positive change to the lives of individuals and societies, creating shared value.” Sectors that were once separated in the past are converging into new products and services to provide innovations that will help provide breakthrough changes for the benefit of society, improving quality of life. Where more can this make a difference than healthcare. When it comes to healthcare innovation, Hitachi deploys a huge range of technologies, systems and data management solutions to support a healthier and safer society. Innovations can be seen from proton beam cancer treatment solutions to automated analysis systems and nursing care business solutions. From diagnostic imaging in Brazil and Egypt to using microscopy to advance STEM education in the USA and IT solutions to increase hospital efficiency in Denmark. With the huge healthcare challenges society is facing due to population boom and shift, it is no longer solely down to governments and healthcare professionals to innovate in order to tackle the problems. Social innovation will see companies providing their expertise and collaborating with the public sector to tackle these challenges. It is only through embracing these new models of business and thinking that the huge opportunities of healthcare innovation can be realised. AD King Faisal Medical City in Saudi Arabia africandesignmagazine.com 67