In this report, the BRIC telemedicine market is broadly segmented on the basis of components, applications, delivery modes, and countries. Based on components, the market is further segmented into services, software, and hardware. Based on deployment mode, the system market is further segmented into on-premise, web-based, and cloud-based modes. On the basis of application, the BRIC telemedicine market is segmented into teleconsultation, teleradiology, telecardiology, telepathology, teledermatology, and other applications.
The market is expected to witness rapid growth in the coming five to seven years owing to a number of factors such as the need for better healthcare in rural areas, tremendous growth in telecommunication, rising prevalence of chronic diseases in BRIC nations, and low cost of telemedicine. However, high infrastructural costs and lack of skilled resources may restrain the market growth to a certain extent. On the other hand, favorable government initiatives present a huge growth potential for telemedicine in the BRIC nations.
China accounted for more than half of the overall share of the BRIC telemedicine market in 2015. It is a major market for telemedicine due to factors such as huge awareness and acceptance of telemedicine, rising incidences of chronic and lifestyle diseases, and growing healthcare expenditure. In addition, major local companies have easy access to this market, which makes it the largest and most significant market for suppliers. Brazil, on the other hand, is expected to grow at the highest CAGR over the next five years. Growth in the Brazilian telemedicine market is mainly driven by the increased purchasing power, emerging mindset towards wellness, and rising healthcare expenditure.
Cloud-based telemedicine software, teleconsultation, teleradiology, and the high growth potential of Brazil and China are the new revenue pockets for the BRIC telemedicine market. The cloud-based telemedicine software offers a number of important benefits such as low cost of ownership; it also helps providers manage key functions. Teleconsultation saves around 80% of the cost for a patient who would otherwise need to travel with a caretaker from a rural area to a city for consultation. It also widens the scope for primary healthcare services and allows knowledge sharing among doctors and enables them to seek help from another hospital in case of an emergency.
Teleradiology, on the other hand, has enhanced the efficiency of radiologists by making image processing faster. A radiologist can only interpret around 3 to 4 X-rays a day using traditional methods; however, with teleradiology, around 7 to 10 X-rays can be viewed per day.
