In the face of Covid-19, many countries have been forced to go paperless especially the health sector so as to curb the spread of the disease.

Can we therefore say life in the health sector has become easy in the advent of e-health?

A study in Ghana has found that individuals in the private sector are more likely to adopt the concept of e-health than government institutions. 

E-health is defined as the use of technologies, education and data to support point-of-care clinical services operated by health care teams, or by the patient themselves in order to support their own self-management.

This method of seeking health advice or managing a patients has its pros and cons especially for developing countries.

The study sought to identify the factors influencing the adoption of electronic health in Ghana.

The research, which involved 1640 people, found that individuals in the private sector are more likely to adopt the concept of e-health than government institutions.  Bureaucracy was implicated.

The study also found tertiary or referral facility, people of younger age group tend to appreciate and grasp the concept of e-health better than the older generation.

Again being a female and having a higher education play a major role in the adoption of e-health among health professionals or managers.

“These results could be explained from the resources available to tertiary practice or referral institutions, such as Korle-Bu, the Ridge Hospital, Nyaho Clinic, and similar institutions relative to primary or secondary health institutions.

`“Private health institutions generate all their income from patients, and therefore have the incentive to institute e-health to be more efficient and have a shorter turnaround time in order to be more profitable.

“Public health institutions, on the other hand, generate most of their income from government subventions and are not quite motivated to employ e-health devices to be more efficient since those subventions are not tied to delivery or efficiency.

“In addition, the decision on whether to adopt the e-health devices or not has to go through a bureaucratic process in public institutions, which might delay such decisions whereas similar hindrance would be low at private health centres,” lead researcher, Agyenna Kesse-Tachi of the University of Ghana stated.

With the above data, it is important for any government or policy makers to consider these factors in order to enhance the adoption of this technology.

The researchers recommended that the main health body of Ghana, the Ministry of Health, should put in place systems and measures to ensure continuum of care for patients even on the e-health.

The institution must also enact laws to roll out e-health into the public and private sectors and also incorporate the use of ICT related health stuff in the tertiary institutions.

This will go a long way to help with the adoption of e-health into the Ghanaian society.