Covid-19: Ushering in a new era for healthtech

Covid-19: Ushering in a new era for healthtech

The crisis has already inflicted drastic changes to healthcare systems around the world and has kicked off a digital makeover of the industry in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).. "If you look at the Middle East, there are primarily two types of healthtech companies: telemedicine and on-demand doctor companies," says Kamal who attributes this to the fact that most entrepreneurs working on healthcare solutions mainly come from a digital background.. "When we were pitching our idea in Dubai, a lot of the investors were just not familiar with what healthtech is and what kind of opportunities really exist we moved to Singapore, where there lies a much more mature market," recounts Kamal.. Senior associate at Hikma Ventures,the venture capital arm of Jordan-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Hamzeh Abdulhadi argues that lack of innovation in the healthtech area has been putting the company off from investing in Mena healthtech companies.. "There has been a heightened interest in the healthtech startups, mostly in telemedicine during the past few months, but I am still not sure if the trend will continue to remain in Q2 of 2020," says Abdulhadi, adding that the company has plans to invest in Egypt-based teleradiology firm Rology.. It