Cloud Computing in Healthcare Services in Nigeria: Applications, Opportunities, Challenges and Future directions
With high growth of data produced by the healthcare services, Nigeria requires the introduction of advanced techniques and resources in terms of computational and storage capabilities regarding the managerial, administrative, and management aspects, physicians or manage patient data, analysis, diagnosis, and so on. Cloud computing has emerged as a transformative technology in the healthcare sector globally, offering innovative solutions to improve efficiency, accessibility, and patient care. In the context of Nigeria, a country facing unique healthcare challenges, the integration of cloud computing in healthcare services presents significant opportunities. This paper delves into the applications, visions, challenges, opportunities, and future directions of cloud computing in the context of Nigerian healthcare. As a country striving to overcome unique healthcare hurdles, the adoption of cloud technologies presents a promising avenue for transformative change. Healthcare industry generates lot of data (big data) in the form of Lab test results, Patient registration, and day-to-day monitoring data. Lot of storage may be required to store this data. Cloud computing environment enables to use several real-time client-server machines to fulfill the requirement of storage phenomenon. Equitable access to health services is one of the health justice criteria as proposed by World Health Organization (WHO). Several medical articles and journals from Science Direct, google scholar, academia, and Research Gate directly related to the applications of cloud computing in health system were used during the review of this paper. It was found out that, the applications of cloud computing in health system, including telemedicine, public and personal health, clinical and hospital information systems, medical decision support system, related healthcare, secondary use of health data, serve as different types of specialized software used to analyze gene sequences and archive huge biological data. Usage of cloud computing in health systems not only makes health services more affordable but helps the nation to achieve health equity among the citizens. It has eased the access of applications and data from any worldwide location from any device with internet connectivity.
Keywords: cloud computing, healthcare services, applications, opportunities, challenges, future direction, telemedicine
