PAGE 9

Page 9

As for medical tourism, we anticipate a positive growth of the industry will encourage more deployment of medical imaging particularly among private healthcare institutions in the developing countries. It was noted that Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand are the potential countries in Asia for medical tourism.4,15,29 Frost & Sullivan projected more hospitals in Asia Pacific that are interested to take part in this industry will make an attempt to upgrade their medical imaging systems to meet patients’ high expectations. From the standpoint of developing countries, there is no doubt that medical imaging deployment can offer substantial benefits. However, it is important to understand the challenges of implementing the technology particularly in the context of a hospital-wide utilization. Some of the key challenges are as follows:

• Require a substantial and ongoing investment

Overall, the implementation of technological components of medical imaging particularly digital imaging modalities and PACS/RIS is very expensive. It is widely acknowledged in the literature that limited financial resource is the main factor that can hamper the growth of medical imaging adoption in healthcare institutions of developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) for example has noted consistently how these factors among others can slow down the deployment and use of important medical technologies and devices that can save many lives. Obtaining a substantial and ongoing funding to purchase, install and maintain the technology is a major challenge for healthcare organizations of developing countries.

• Require a good understanding on the complexities in implementing and managing the technology, as well as extending its application to support teleradiology activities

Many studies describe medical imaging implementation as risky, expensive and complicated. Its implementation success rate depends on many factors. Among them are: the commitment of key stakeholders and decision makers, the support from clinicians and radiologists, the high frequency of user training and technical support, and the ongoing support from suppliers and vendors.A good understanding on the complexities and issues related to implementing the technology is very crucial in order to have a successful implementation plan for a hospital-wide medical imaging installation.

• Providing good ICT (Information Communication and Technology) service support, and training to users

Technology users particularly radiologists, clinicians, radiographers and nurses require efficient good and reliable ICT technical support services to facilitate their day-to-day use of medical imaging applications particularly PACS

I would like to express my gratitude to Associate Professor Dr Benita Cox from Imperial College London, UK for her valuable insights and comment to improve the quality of this review paper.

References

[1] Abella, H.A. (2009). X-rays and CT offer predictive power for swine flu diagnosis. Diagnostic Imaging. Retrieved from http://www.diagnosticimaging.com/digital-x-ray/content/article/113619/1425699.

[2] Adam, C.W.S. (2010). Enterprise Imaging Informatics: PACS in Radiology and Beyond.

Retrieved from http://binaryhealthcare.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/enterprise-imaging-informatics-pacs-in-radiology-and-beyond.pdf.

[3] Androuchko, V and Parlette, B. (2006). Low cost teleradiology for developing countries. In e-Health Networking, Applications and Services, 2006. HEALTHCOM 2006. 8th International Conference on 17-19 August 2006, New Delhi, India.

[4] Arunanondchai, J. and Fink, C. (2007). Trade in Health Services in the ASEAN Region. World Bank Research Policy Paper No. 4147. World Bank.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9