Between Malta and UK: A Radiologists's View (Ryan Grech)
Malta is a country of half a million people, a nationally-funded NHS, and a vibrant digital health community that will host the MedTech World Summit in November.
A few years ago Stefan Buttigieg, a digital health evangelist from Malta said that Malta is a great testbed for digital health startups interested in entering Europe.
In this episode, Ryan Grech - Radiology Registrar from Malta who works in the UK talks about the benefits of running a digital health startup in Malta, he compares healthcare in the UK and Malta, and shares his views on telemedicine and digital health after the pandemic. If the though of telemedicine becoming mainstream was vocalized throughout 2020, we’re now seeing the return to in-person visits in perhaps higher scope than anticipated. “Recently the NHS both in England and Scotland invested money in getting people back to the GP’s offices. I think it's because there are some things which obviously we can’t diagnose online or people just want to have the human and social element in care. But I think that that by no means takes anything away from telemedicine. I think it's just showing us that we're now entering the phase where we are readjusting. Traditional healthcare can coexist together in harmony with the digital approach. And I think we're pretty much going forward to the future now at this point,” says Ryan Grech.
Ryan is among other things an advisor to the MedTech World Conference, which we’ll take place between 17-20 November. As mentioned by Ryan, topic around artificial intelligence are going to be among the key focuses of the conference. “We think that artificial intelligence will by far be the biggest thing in the future. I think we're at a stage now where we're not just using artificial intelligence as a buzzword, but rather we are seeing clinical applications of artificial intelligence. These are mostly still incubated, not really used in the real world, but I'm sure that we'll start getting more and more research and publications relating to artificial intelligence and its actual effects on clinical work. Internet of medical things is also going to be one of the key topics at the conference, as well as regulation,” Ryan Grech explains.
To visit the conference, listen to the end of the discussion where Ryan shared how you can get a nice discount on your ticket.
Discussion points in this episode:
- healthcare and digitalization in Malta, UK
- reflection of the technology trends and expectations based on last year
- reality check on telemedicine
- doctor perspective on technology
- highlights of the program at the Medtech World