Healthtech

Overview:

Healthcare is touted as one of the most promising sectors as the nation  moves towards Digital Bangladesh 2023. Proliferation of Information Technology has enabled players within the industry, empowering healthcare professionals and recipients of the services across all walks of the community. Over the last decade, a number of companies have come forward to help close the gap, and help healthcare service providers overcome their inadequacies with technology. Those companies helped address major issues that created a quality discrepancy.

What is Healthtech:

Healthtech includes any technology-enabled healthcare products and services that are primarily delivered and/or consumed outside of the hospital or physician’s office—one notable exception being hospital and practice management software.

The vertical includes companies that provide mobility and other information technologies to improve healthcare delivery while decreasing costs, an online insurance network that provides telemedicine consultations. It also uses technology and services to optimize patient-centric healthcare through things like cloud computing, internet services and social mobility.

The space has a wide-ranging suite of B2C and B2B offerings, such as preventative and monitoring tools for consumers, as well as analytic and administrative tools for healthcare administrators and commercial healthcare organizations. Healthtech also consists of products that enable the burgeoning “healthcare at home” movement, which allows patients flexibility and convenience in how they manage personal care. (Telemedicine, blood testing and genomics, for example.)

The Future of Healthtech Business in Bangladesh

Currently the 57th largest economy in the world, Bangladesh has been making significant socio-economic developments in recent years. GDP has been growing at an average rate of 6-7% over the past decade. However, despite improving healthcare indicators such as decline in mortality rates and increase in average life expectancy, the health sector of the country is yet to reach its full potential. Total healthcare expenditure stands at only 3.7% of total GDP of the economy.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has an extensive health infrastructure. The service delivery structure follows the country’s administrative pattern, starting from the national to the district, upazila, union and finally to the ward levels. It provides promotive, preventive, and curative services such as outdoor (outpatient), indoor (inpatient), and emergency care at different levels – primary, secondary and tertiary.

So, Health Tech as an industry is in an enviable position as its financial and consumer backing promises a strong and continued growth chart over the coming years and the sector has a bright future ahead.

* Collected from BVCL Forum