About seven million people or 28 per cent of the Australian population live in rural and remote areas and poorer health outcomes than people living in metropolitan areas.

Data from the Bureau of Statistics shows that people living in rural and remote areas have higher rates of hospitalisations, deaths and injury and are more likely to die at a younger age than their city counterparts whilst also having poorer access to, and use of, primary health care services, than people living in major cities.

Elaria Paul, product portfolio manager at MasterCare, which provides technology solutions for the Australian healthcare sector said investing in digital infrastructure was not just beneficial, but essential to ensuring equitable healthcare access.

“Technology can dramatically improve outcomes for these communities by connecting them with doctors and specialists and eliminating travel to access health care,” Ms Paul said.

“But even the best healthcare technology will fail if there's no digital infrastructure to support it.

“We're not just talking about something that's really fleeting... a rural strategy has to include things like funding for digital infrastructure and support of the rural workforce.

“We need commitment from government to upgrade particularly internet access and reliability in those regional/rural areas.”

Recently, American businessman and billionaire Bill Gates predicted that advancements in artificial intelligence would significantly reduce humanity’s role in many traditional medicine and education practises and the seismic shift could happen in less than 10 years.

The Microsoft co-founder described a future where humans were no longer necessary “for most things” because AI technology would readily perform tasks that currently require specialised human skills.

Yarrawonga and Mulwala Medical Centre’s owner and practioner Dr Ayon Guha said technology was already a big part of medicine and in future it would play an ever-increasing role, but human skill and touch would always be required.

“Technology should always be an enabler/facilitator especially for the dissemination of knowledge,” Dr Ayon said.

“Locally NBN unreliability remains a core issue for why digital solutions have not assisted our health sector more, but this is more about our population group than technology itself.

“Older patients find it difficult to use technology and it can be very confusing.”

Dr Ayam said he agreed with Bill Gate’s comments, in terms of accessing knowledge and options but that medicine was not only about diagnosing and treating.

“For a GP it is about the person and family in front of them,” he said.

“A holistic care, a human touch, lending an ear to hear your issues and guiding you to keep well and face the challenges that life throws.

“Technology can give you answers but will it give the bond, the human factor?

“In my humble opinion, humanity is soon going to be at a juncture where it has to decide what it wants to be - a technology/AI based society where everything is delegated, or a society where humans are the prima facie.”

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Saturday, 15th March 2025

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