Global health care spend is projected to reach US$ 8.7 trillion by 2020, equable with the prevailing rising cost of health care. In Saudi Arabia, the health care market is estimated to grow 12.3% by 2020 reaching US$ 71.2 billion.
It is inescapable that health care is indeed a business, and a behemoth revenue stream at it too. And hereon rolls the grand question — why should you care?
If the rapid rise of businesses promoting a healthier lifestyle is any indication of recent years’ global trends, then health care is as you may have guessed, a global cause for concern. For many, unfortunately, the prospects of deteriorating health are often blindsided resulting in unforeseen expenses and in most cases, high costs. Then follows the challenges that emerge with financing and the unruly mental burden.
Medical advancement is a double-edged sword. Scaling new heights in health care science, technology-driven facilities, quality treatment and cure and to a greater extent, Artificial Intelligence (AI), could also translate into a ballooning cost and competition structure. Not to mention, the current lack of available transparency with patient data and records in the face of a traditional medical system.
Today, Saudi Arabia is experiencing a steady increase in the number of aging population and one can already anticipate an even greater need for increased efficiency, accessibility and affordability. Maneuvering the health care system — government or private — is a manual process, recurrently tedious.
Well, where then might one find the most befitting health care financing plan, that provides reliable structure and able to locate the best suited doctor, in addition to transparency?
Enter health care blockchain.
Countering the lack of transparency and organization in patients’ health records, the purpose of the blockchain is to provide a secure and private platform to amass one’s medical data historically and in real-time. The era of fragmented patients records are to be bygones.
This peer-to-peer network also lends itself to create an affordable and cost-saving mechanism and impact for health care cost in the long-term. How does it work? By converting real money into cryptocurrency, patients receive boosts in trade-in value with medical treatments within a supported network of hospitals and doctors. Its centralized format is an optimization of what originally was an inflated cost structure, and is the collective and direct result of “investments” from virtual peers.
Our solution?
Enter SihaToken, the first health token in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA).
Founded by its parent company Sihatech — a Saudi Arabia-based tech company backed by Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center and Waseel Application Service Provider — SihaToken brings an element of affordability to health care, providing an alternative to rising costs of medical inflation, and is a solution to invest in elective health care treatments that can be redeemed on-demand or financed across time to ease the burden on patients.
Patients will benefit from this health care decentralization beyond traditional measures and by harnessing the power of blockchain, will be able to securely access health care of top medical facilities. This will aid both locals and expatriates within the region and beyond, further empowering our nations to advance in parallel with Vision 2030.
SihaToken will be launching with a defining edge versus the commonplace. First, above-mentioned as the brainchild of one of Saudi Arabia’s most promising tech companies, we will scale with backing from a trusted and fully operating ecosystem. Second, SihaToken is arriving at a period when stability is valued most, particularly in the current teetering global economy climate. Third, SihaToken will take the “glocal” approach — global standards to meet local needs with the Islamic insurance concept, Takaful.
So why is this multi-trillion dollar industry your business, you ask?
A key takeaway is that health care, if not planned conscientiously could ultimately cost you, your family and your next generation inflated loans and unnecessary debt. It is a multi-faceted business that can both heal and harm. As a patient it is a birthright to concede with the most competent approach in your medical journey — and SihaToken is your vehicle.
