Research Article

Health Care Service Delivery for Rural Areas in the Digital Era: Challenges and Prospects

Justina Sam-Okere1*, Miriam Sam-Okere2
1 Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Babcock University, Ilishan –Remo, Ogun State
2 Zenith Medical and Kidney Centre, Gudu, Abuja
* Corresponding author: sam-okerej@babcock.edu.ng
Published: Dec, 2022
DOI: 10.67894/bjms.2022.mmvxt3mq
Pages: 132-141

Abstract

Public and corporate management in the digital era whether in the urban or rural areas have the challenge of ensuring effective and efficient sustainable service delivery based on global best practices. The aim of this research is to critically examine the challenges that public and corporate management encounter in the bid to deliver quality services in rural areas using modern technological gadgets and machines to enhance their services. The research was carried out using secondary data and descriptive analysis to arrive at the conclusions drawn. The research found out that there are challenges that may hinder the sustainability of the transformational public and corporate management from achieving its aim in this era. These challenges range from power supply to run the machines; tools and equipment; financial constraints of rural dwellers; lack of qualified health personnel and other support staff to operate the equipment and run the health centers where they exist; communication barriers; inaccessible roads to most rural areas, inadequate or lack of physical structures to secure equipment and facilities that could sustain quality, effective and efficient health care service delivery in the rural areas. We therefore recommend that government and its agencies; non-governmental organizations as well as private individuals should collaborate and jointly equip and fund these health service outlets in the rural areas to enable the rural dwellers benefit from the digitized public service delivery in order to maximize the productivity of the rural people for sustainable development.

Keywords

Challenges; Digital era; Public and corporate management; Rural areas; Sustainable health care delivery Telemedicine

References

  1. Clarke, Amanda, (2017). Digital government units: what are they, and what do they mean for digitalerapublicmanagementrenewal?Pages358-379|Retrieved23Aug2017,Accepted25 Oct 2019, Published online: 22 Nov 2019.Retrieved 31/12/2022
  2. Dasgupta, P., Morton, J.F.,Dodman, D., et al (2014). Rural Areas in Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, Part A: Global Sectoral Aspects. Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  3. Dibie,RobertA.(2019)PublicManagementand SustainableDevelopmentinNigeria Military Bureaucracy Relationship, Routledge.
  4. Gidley, J, Hampson, G, Wheeler, L and Bereded-Samuel, E., (2010), Social inclusion: Context, theory and practice. The Australasian Journal of University-Community Engagement, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 6-36. (PDF) Social Inclusion: Context, Theory and Practice (researchgate.net)
  5. Gil-Garcia,RamonJ., Dawes, SharonS. and Pardo,TheresaA., Eds(2018). DigitalGovernmentand Public Management. Quest Editors. Volume 20, Issue 5Accessed 30/12/2022
  6. DepartmentforBusiness,Innovation&SkillsandBaronessNeville-RolfeDBE CMG
  7. International Funds for Agriculture, Rural Poverty Report, (2010). Nearly 70% of poor live in rural areas | Business – Gulf News. Retrieved 27/12/2022
  8. Jacob,AnkeetaMenona.(2021).HealthcareDeliverySystemsinRuralAreas.In(Ed.),RuralHealth. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98184
  9. Jose, Medina (2013). The Epistomology of Resistance: Gender and Racial Oppression, Epistemic Injustice, and the Social Imagination, Oxford University Press. In Harding, Sandra,(2004)StandpointEpistomology:SocialJusticeUsageTheFeministStandpointTheoryReader: Intellectual and Political Controversies., New York, Routledge
  10. KingsleyC.U.,FranciscaE.,(2012)ProspectsandChallengesofTelemedicineinNigeria. Journal of medicine and biomedical sciences. DOI: 10.7813/jmbs.2012/3-1/10
  11. KipervarE.,MamayE. &Kipervar E.,(2020). DigitalPublicAdministration: PossibleRisksand Opportunities. Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research, volume 138 Digital_Public_Administration_Possible_Risks_and_O.pdf
  12. MasteringtheDigitalChallengesinUrbanandRuralAreas-Targomo
  13. Neville-Rolfe,Lucy.InDepartmentofBusiness,InnovationandSkills,(2014).DigitalHealth: Transforming Healthcare Service Delivery. Published under 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democratic Coalition Government, UK
  14. Akca,Hasan,etal,(2007). ChallengeofruralpeopletoreducedigitaldivideintheglobalizedworldTheory and practice - ScienceDirect Government InformationQuarterly Vol. 24(1) pp404-413
  15. ArtemAKosorukov,(2017).DigitalGovernmenModel:TheoryandPracticeofModernPublic Administration.Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues Vol20(3)DigitalGovernmentModel:TheoryandPracticeofModernPublicAdministration(abacademies.org)Accessed 31/12/2022
  16. Asgarkhani,Mehd(2007). Digital Government and its Effectiveness in Public Management Reform.DIGITALGOVERNMENTANDITSEFFECTIVENESSINPUBLICMANAGEMENTREFORM:Alocalgovernmentperspective:PublicManagement Review: Vol 7, No 3 pp465-487 (tandfonline.com). Accessed 28/12/2022
  17. Ashok, M. L., & Nanjundaswamy, Abhishek. (2017). Digital Empowerment of Rural People: Issues and Challenges Seshadripuram Journal of Social Sciences Vol. 1 Issue 1, August 2018, ISSN: 2581-6748, Journal Home page: https://mcom.sfgc.ac.in/online-journal Email: pgdept@sfgc.ac.inDouble-BlindPeerreviewedOpenAccessNationalJournal,Bangalore,India Published online: 22 Nov 2019. Retrieved 1/1/2023
  18. Bryant, J. H., (1998). Health and Developing World. Itheca, New York,
  19. Nworuh,J,Blessed,(2018). Health Care Delivery System in Nigeria. ResearchGate. Retrieved 27/12/2022
  20. Online Source:Population living in urban and rural areas, World, 1500 to 2016 (ourworldindata.org). Retrieved 27/12/2022
  21. Savage,Carolyn(2022).ImportanceofMotherTongueLanguageinEducation,International Teacher Magazine. Consilium Education. December 2022.Importance of mother tonguelanguage in education (consiliumeducation.com) Accessed 1/1/2023
  22. Shepherd,J.(2004).WhatistheDigitalEra?.In G. Doukidis,N.Mylonopoulos,&N.Poulou di (Eds.), Social and Economic Transformation in the Digital Era (pp. 1-18). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-158-2.ch001
  23. Smitz,Stefan,(2016).MakingRuralTransformationSustainable.TheInternationalJournalfor Rural Development. Making rural transformation sustainable - www.rural21.com. Germany.Accessed30/12/2022
  24. Sustainable Health Review, (2019). Sustainable Health Review: Final Report to the Government of Western Australia, Department of Health, Western Australia. Sustainable Health Review - Final Report Accessed 29/12/2022
  25. Targomo,(2019).Mastering theDigitalChallengesinUrbanandRuralAreas. November 5, 2019
  26. ThelmaIdeozu(2022)Everythingyouneedtoknow abouttelemedicineinNigeria.Culture Custodian; Technology. https://culturecustodian.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-telemedicine-in-nigeria/
  27. United Kingdom (2014) Digital Health: Transforming Healthcare Service Delivery. Digitalhealth:transforminghealthcareservicedelivery-GOV.UK(www.gov.uk). Accessed 29/1/2022
  28. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospect: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition. Retrieved 30/12/2022
  29. United States Department of Health & Human Services, (2020). Defining Rural Population. Guidance Portal. Defining Rural Population | Guidance Portal (hhs.gov). Retrieved 28/12/2022
  30. USAID, (2013). Sustainable Service Delivery in an Increasingly Urbanized World.
How to Cite

Sam-Okere, J., & Sam-Okere, M. (2022). Health Care Service Delivery for Rural Areas in the Digital Era: Challenges and Prospects. Bayero Journal of Management Sciences, 4(2), 132-141. https://doi.org/10.67894/bjms.2022.mmvxt3mq

J. Sam-Okere, and M. Sam-Okere, "Health Care Service Delivery for Rural Areas in the Digital Era: Challenges and Prospects," Bayero Journal of Management Sciences, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 132-141, December 2022. doi: 10.67894/bjms.2022.mmvxt3mq

Share this article:
Facebook X / Twitter LinkedIn
Download PDF View Full Text (PDF) Back to Articles