Positive Disruption in the Healthcare Industry

I recently attended a networking event via Zoom (of course) and the discussion turned to the health industry and what a positive disrupter Covid-19 has been for the sector. Everyone knows the health sector has been ripe for innovation and disruption but it’s always been too hard. The regulatory barriers have been too high, the research times have been too long, different tribes existing within the health sector prevent fast changes and everyone has a different perspective or objective. The thing is, with Covid, it has just smashed through a whole lot of those things overnight. Global conversations were given urgency and support, information sharing happened across borders and countries mobilised themselves at speeds they have never achieved before. The four areas where healthcare is winning were: New technology   They might have looked straight out of a sci fi movie a few months ago, but new technology such as the use of drones and robots to deliver medical supplies, virtual welfare and wellness advice (telemedicine) and things like biometric technology for temperature sensing have become commonplace in many countries overnight. Regulatory changes   As governments respond to Covid, regulatory changes have been made to speed up production for PPE (did we even know that term in January?!), ventilators, and reduce lead times and fast tracking for vaccine development and testing.  Global collaboration .  Never before have so many of the world’s researchers focused so urgently on a single topic. Everything else has been put on hold. While political leaders have shut borders, the medical and research community have shattered theirs. Investment of tech giants Initiatives such as the Apple and Google joint initiative to update their operating systems to allow for more effective contact tracing apps. So while a lot of business has come to a grinding halt, the medical world has been given a much needed boost. One further area we expect to see future investment is the infrastructure for the healthcare industry with BVT recently discussing the expected rise in priority given to construction of medical facilities .  In the discussion, people were grateful that those things had coalesced when they needed to. It’s a leap forward for medical developments that otherwise would have taken so much longer and a silver lining to what has otherwise been a global tragedy.