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

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.