September 9, 2024
Southeast Asia is facing a formidable situation: By 2030, there won’t be enough healthcare workers, with a shortage of 4.7 million in Southeast Asia and 1.4 million in the Western Pacific region1. This critical situation demands attention, concerted efforts and technological revolution to ensure that healthcare remains accessible, effective, and capable of delivering better outcomes for all.
Singapore anticipates a robust 26% surge in telehealth adoption from 2021 to 20242. As the region continues its healthcare transformation, it’s not merely about keeping pace; it’s about setting the pace.
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the use of data analytics in tracking and responding to outbreaks in Southeast Asia. From patient care and diagnosis to research and development, data drives unprecedented efficiency, personalization, and innovation.
Hitachi’s Lumada Solutions is illuminating the path toward a digitally transformed healthcare future that’s not just data-driven but data-inspired.
The healthcare industry, a vanguard of human well-being, is expanding beyond its usual constraints, embracing digital transformation by leveraging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, Cloud Computing, and Genomics to enhance patient care, improve efficiency, and personalise treatments.
The impact is profound, resonating across more than a billion lives. Notably, McKinsey estimates that by 2025, digital health in Asia could generate up to $100 billion in value, up from $37 billion in 20203.
Singapore Health Service, commonly known as SingHealth, is Singapore’s largest group of healthcare institutions. In a rapidly growing healthcare market, projected to reach 125.3 million users by 2027,4 SingHealth’s vision is resolute: to bring transformative enhancement in the health services and build a resilient infrastructure that can proactively adapt to the evolving needs of Singapore’s population health and swiftly respond to challenges, whether in times of peace or crisis.
Embarking on the On-Premise Research Data Science and Systems Explorer (ODySSEy) initiative, SingHealth hopes to serve its research and innovation requirements, as well as foster collaborations with external medical research institutions.
With that in mind, SingHealth approached Hitachi to implement a system for research scientists to access patient and healthcare data for their research. Leveraging its expertise in data science and AI capabilities, Hitachi proposed a Modern Research Data Science Platform (MRDSP) solution, meticulously designed with intelligence and open-sourced framework sustainability at its core, to address SingHealth’s business needs:
Data Ingestion
Data Integration & Storage
Integration with Data De-identification
Security & Access Controls
Data Cataloguing
Containerization
Repository & Version Control
Beyond Hitachi and SingHealth’s collaboration, ODySSEy – a purpose-built data science platform empowers researchers with a suite of tools to ingest, process, store, and access data within a self-service data science workspace. The platform aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of patients and deeper insights into treatment strategies.
With ODySSEY, over 1,000 researchers from local and international medical institutes can collaborate and work on various research concurrently. This allows for swift cross-collaboration while upholding robust security measures for safeguarding patient data and medical records, redefining the standards of collaborative research.
By 2026, 55% of Asia Pacific healthcare institutions will implement data governance to ensure ethical AI usage in predictive, preventive, and personalized care5. It reflects the industry’s growing commitment to using AI technologies in ways that prioritize patient privacy, fairness, and transparency.
The healthcare sector is ringing with the demand for a profound transformation. Where precision and speed can be a matter of life and death, Hitachi’s Healthtech solutions maximize the potential of innovation and reimagine healthcare through the prism of data.
Hitachi leads this transformative journey, shaping a future where technology supports the development of better medicine, better patient engagement, and better health for the people.
Sources:
1. Workforce 2030 Report by WHO
2. Asia-Pacific Front Line of Healthcare Report 2022
3. The Future of Healthcare in Asia: Digital Health Ecosystems
4. Statista.com Report
5. Healthcare Predictions for 2023 and Beyond by IDC