When it comes to biotechnology, Japan is leagues ahead of the western world. They have devices for delivering medicine, patches, nasal sprays that are unlike any other. However, when it comes to Healthtech, Japan sadly is not yet there.

Japanese Healthcare industry

At $472.6 B, Japan ranks third in the world when it comes to the healthcare expenditure, following the USA and China. A sizeable proportion of this is on healthcare delivery – medicines, operational costs, palliative care. However, the spendings on preventive healthcare are limited due to budgeting constraints.

The overall IoT market in Japan is forecasted to reach about $ 143.2 B. A sizeable portion would be healthcare IoT. The overall Healthcare IT market is projected to grow by 12.3% by 2020.

Despite these statistics, the tech giant is struggling, albeit ironically, with IT in healthcare. The market penetration of smartphones and connected devices is high (81.7%). However, the IT literacy among the healthcare workers is low, leading to an effective delivery of healthcare.

Opportunities for HealthTech in Japan

The tertiary care facilities are concentrated in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures (Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama). Delivering uniform healthcare across the country thus becomes a challenge. Although the adoption of health tech by individuals is high, there is no notable use of this data to delivering health care or amending the public policy in any way.

Japan has a simplistic healthcare cost coverage model. Everyone needs to have an insurance. The state covers 70% of the cost, and individuals cover the remaining. The cost-to-patient for procedures is capped, leading to lower spendings. That said, doctors, hospitals, and patients do not coordinate optimally, leading to lost opportunities.

This is a brilliant opportunity for integrating the existing healthcare systems under a single platform. The tech-savvy patients are already capturing their wellness parameters on a daily basis. This is not seen by the doctors though.

Japan has a sizable ageing population, with over 40% over the age of 55. Currently, the elderly in Japan are considered healthy and wealthy, with a significant number of them committing to their personal health. This explains the lower expenditures on healthcare, (about 7% of the GDP as against 17% in the USA.

That said, with a wider adoption of m-health and connected devices by the ageing population, monitoring of health will become easier for that country, easing the burden on preventive expenditures. As in the other developed nations, there is a scope for adoption of healthtech by the elderly, not limited to fitness trackers, m-health devices, remote diagnostics, and other means to track health and wellbeing, like digital scales and sleep trackers. In addition, AI and robotics have a role to play in diagnostics and screening, especially in the remote areas of the country.

Aimedis : what Japan needs right now

The core of Aimedis is connecting the stakeholders in healthcare with each other without a loss of information. Patients can seek a medical consultation, doctors can exchange notes, Hospitals can connect with each other for a seamless data transfer, in the event of a transfer of a patient. In addition, the Pharmaceuticals can plan their clinical trials effectively, and the insurance companies can improve their services.

Countries like Japan, with an ageing population, existing IT infrastructure, as well as a tech-hungry population could use such a seamless integration.

Also, read Why diagnosing leprosy in the Philippines is not a big problem any more: Learns

If you are in the Western world, you might have heard about leprosy. The incidence of Leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, is so low in the USA and Europe, that it has fallen out of the public notice. However, more than 200,000 people suffer from this disease, mostly in South East Asia.

It is a bacterial disease caused by an organism similar to the one causes Tuberculosis. The patient can contract the disease and can go for years without displaying any outward signs. In the advanced stages, the disease is not contagious. However, it deforms the body of a person – fingers, toes, nose, and these may just fall off. An early diagnosis and a prompt treatment can prevent all this. However, diagnosing Leprosy is challenging, especially in a country like the Philippines.

Leprosy in the Philippines

The Philippines is a beautiful country made of 7641 islands, out of which, some 2000 are inhabited by about 103 Million people. The pristine beaches, scrumptious cuisine, and warm people make it an attractive place for tourists. However, the geographic makeup of the country poses operational challenges for the delivery of healthcare.

As it has so many islands, it is difficult for a healthcare visitor to conduct screening procedures. And if it is Leprosy, the patients may not even see a doctor until it is too late. The social stigma of the disease keeps them away from the civilisation, and the patients often are neglected by the family as well.

As the bigger hospitals and diagnostic centres are located far away, even the support staff in smaller clinics have a difficulty in getting things diagnosed. And even though there were just about 2000 odd cases of leprosy diagnosed in 2010, not everyone received an early treatment. There might be a fair share of undiagnosed cases due to various factors, including remoteness of diagnostic facilities, lack of training in diagnostic skills, and pure social stigma.

Learns: The Technological solution to the healthcare hurdle

However, we are in 2018 now! And technology is helping us overcome such hurdles. It did the same in the Philippines, as according to a report by the Guardian, Novartis Foundation teamed up with the department of health and developed a mobile-based diagnostic tool – Leprosy Alert and Response Network System (Learns).

It enables a healthcare worker, say a nurse, to click a photo of the lesion, and send it to a specialist. The specialist may be 100s of miles away, but he can diagnose it right away and chart a treatment pathway. This results in early diagnosis and prompt treatment, avoiding disfiguration.

The quality of life of such a patient will improve drastically, preventing a life of hardship and misery.

Aimedis for patients

At Aimedis, this is the core of our philosophy – an access to healthcare, wherever you are. We have tailored plans for patients – they can opt for the subscription-free plan and avail a pay-as-you-consult model, that, for a nominal fee, lets you interact with a specialist without the wait. There is a premium subscription where a patient can access a doctor round the clock, and also get a second opinion. He can also request for a prescription using the Aimedis medical team.

We hope that someday, technology and AI will help the standards of healthcare to become uniform all over the world.

Also, read How Aimedis is adding value to the Trillion Dollar Healthcare Industry