Thailand will see an increase in deployment of digital healthcare with the aim to enable early-stage interventions that can improve health as well as healthcare delivery by enhancing effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility, safety and personalisation.
The H4U (Health for You) mobile app developed by the Ministry of Public Health creates personal health profiles of patients that can be accessed from anywhere.
Over the next 10 years, healthcare costs in Thailand will increase due to the ageing population. In view of this, the goal is to provide value-based healthcare using data analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to predict and provide personalised services and telehealth to reduce unnecessary hospital visits.
The government is also using AI and 5G technology to combat the current Covid-19 pandemic. This is helping doctors to quickly and accurately distinguish early, advanced and severe stages of Covid, leading to better diagnoses.
Thailand offers a conducive environment for investment in digital health. Under the Thailand 4.0 policy, the government has launched various healthcare applications such as H4U (a personal health profile app), Smart Health ID (patient administration cloud service) and Primary Care Cluster App (telehealth and telemedicine) between 2018 and 2020.
The advancements made by the public sector in implementing digital government policy will spearhead the digitisation of the private sector and enhance the ability of both citizens and businesses to access public sector data to drive the country's overall economic competitiveness.
Thailand has also been pushing for 5G adoption in the healthcare industry. In September, Huawei Thailand and the Department of Medical Services signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly empower the health system through 5G connectivity.
Under the two-year agreement, Huawei will provide 5G technologies to two partner public hospitals -- the National Cancer Institute and Rajavithi Hospital. It will supervise the adoption of the technologies and train hospital staff for their use.
The technologies will also be used for telemedicine, such as remote monitoring and diagnosis, to help minimise the risk of Covid infections in hospitals. Applications will also be deployed for emergency care services, specifically for ambulance transport, where real-time information, such as location, vital signs and video images, are transmitted to hospitals instantly, guiding rescue doctors in providing adequate emergency care and preparing staff for treatment or surgery.
In December 2020, Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, the largest public hospital in the country, signed a similar agreement with Huawei for the immediate upgrade of the hospital's existing infrastructure using 5G technology.
The government is developing a 5G-powered intelligent medical information and full-service system through the cooperation of five organisations, including the Ministry of Public Health. The Thailand Health Data Space 5G project aims to enhance the quality of system components such as hospital transmission of information, diagnosis, follow-up, rehabilitation and emergency treatment.
The project represents the first part of the development of the country's Big Data Health Information platform, which has three components: a big data infrastructure, a nationwide information system of hospital networks, and a network of health service applications.
However, some challenges could slow the update of digital health services. A preference for local products, insufficient intellectual property rights protection and complicated tax exemption rules are among the issues that need to be addressed to increase foreign investment in Thailand's healthtech sector.
Moreover, since digital health services represent a relatively new concept, there have been few specific laws enacted to govern the practice in Thailand. As such, by further clarifying the legal boundaries, the government will encourage more rapid innovation while ensuring that minimum standards of quality are met.