Omogah, F. O. (2023). COVID-19's Healthcare Economic Challenges: An Attraction to Evolving Online Crimes Could Be a Looming Full-Blown Disaster in Hospitals. Global Congress on Healthcare and Patient Safety, NH Roma Villa Carpegna, Rome, Italy. ISBN 981-21486012-2-2, p. 43

Abstract

Hospital Management has become very sensitive, critical and economically challenging, as also occasioned by a highly infectious COVID-19 pandemic. This disease has been responsible for massive healthcare havocs and high mortality rate across the globe. The rush to technology uptake as a fallback continuity plan has majorly involved the IoT Medical connected devices. This could result into full blown clinical challenges in managing patients in our hospitals. To date, technology alone has never been the solution because equipment does malfunction, can be abused or most certainly can be attacked by criminals. During this pandemic, hospitals have become a target for cybercrime activities. Criminals could take advantage of overwhelmed healthcare personnel, healthcare financing costs and high technology integrations. Usually, hospitals are extremely sensitive sectors in healthcare. Any disruption in activities aiding healthcare intervention in hospitals can lead far reaching consequences. Although healthcare sector like others reaping big on the silver lining brought by Covid-19 pandemic, by improvement on technology infrastructure, new challenges of the freshly emerging cyber criminality, targeting Electronic Healthcare Systems (EHCS) across the globe have been on course. Healthcare workers and hospitals’ infrastructure has also been overwhelmed and overstretched respectively. This is a likelihood of additional risks in our hospitals, Covid-19 notwithstanding. To avert this fresh cyber criminality, there is urgent need to put new measures in place for managing hospitals during Covid-19, and other future or unforeseen pandemics. This would ensure safety in hospitals and healthcare sectors globally. This study assessed current trends globally in Cyber Security for Healthcare. It seeks to sensitize the global community on the freshly emerging Technology challenges in hospital management and healthcare and to showcase some recommendations to be followed, to improve hospital management in case of similar future disease pandemics.