Malaysia and telecare - A preliminary study

Abstract

Advancements in nutrition, sanitation, health practices and medical care has significantly reduced infant mortality rate improved the life expectancy of the population. With the increasing ageing population and chronic disease sufferers, this presents a challenge in the field of healthcare delivery. This gets worse with the decline of workforce in healthcare sector and increasing medical cost. Awareness of this situation has led several developed country to implement telecare in easing the problems faced. Malaysia as a developing nation will also face similar challenges in the future. Thus, this paper presents a preliminary study on several factors contributing to the need of telecare technology. Preliminary findings indicate an early sign that the country is also heading towards a similar development as those experienced by the European countries. In the future, it is worth to note that telecare can be an alternative option to counter the adverse effects of increasing ageing population. © 2008 Springer-Verlag.