THE IMPACT OF ICT ON THE NIGERIAN ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTH SECTOR: CASE STUDY OF GIWA HOSPITAL KADUNA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Information and communication technology (ICT) offers the promise of fundamentally changing the lives of much of the world’s population. In its various forms, ICT affects many of the processes of government and business, how individuals live, work and interact, and the quality of the natural and built environment. The development of internationally comparable ICT statistics is essential for governments to be able to adequately design, implement, monitor and evaluate ICT policies (Madueme, 2010).
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has now been accepted as one of the main driving force behind organizational competitiveness in the present day business environment. Presently, ICT is having dramatic influence on almost all areas of human activities and one of the areas of economic activities in which this influence is most manifest is the banking sector and health sector, ranging from the medical equipment to surgical operation apparatus. The health sector in today world is one of the critical sectors of the economy which makes invaluable contributions to the pace of economic growth and development of nations (Ajayi, 2003; Madueme, 2010). However, this study seeks to examine the impact of ICT on the Nigerian economic growth and development in health sector: case study of giwa hospital kaduna.
Most developing nations including Nigeria have embarked on various reforms that foster the use of ICTs in their economies. These reforms tend to yield little or minimal benefits to economic growth and development, especially when compared with the developed countries of the world. Technological advancement is known to impact fast rate of economic development. In Nigeria, policy on adoption of Information and Communication Technologies was initiated in 1999, when the civilian regime came into power of government. The operations of the licensed telecommunication service providers in the country has created some well-felt macroeconomic effects in terms of job creation, faster delivery services, reduced transport costs, greater security and higher national output (Emmanuel and Adebayo, 2011).
Attempts to ensure sustainable economic development and poverty reduction of most nations usually involve the development of agriculture, mining, industrial as well as the service sectors. The Industrial Revolutions in Europe and America, generally and specifically, have been premised on technological breakthroughs. During the late 1990s, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was the largest contributor to growth within capital services for both Canada and the United States (Harchaoui, 2002). Similar trend has been observed with the economic development of China, Korea, Taiwan, India, South Africa, and other emerging economic powers (Fuss and Waverman, 2005).
Health care solutions provided by information and communication technology (ICT), also known as eHealth, offer one solution to this problem. The tools and services which contribute to eHealth provide better and more efficient health care services for all.
