WHAT IS GENOMICS?
A highly interdisciplinary study of DNA that
provides information about:
- Ancestry
- Susceptible diseases
- Potential drug treatments
- Opportunities for precision medicine and
new drug development
- Many other things, some yet unknown
Evolution is natural, progressive and necessary for the development and
enhancement of any human, industry, business or technology. So why are we so
slow to adapt?
The above statement applies to almost all industries; however, we are going to focus
more specifically on the healthcare industry. According to Deloitte’s Global Outlook
for 2017, health care spending increases shall range between 2.4% and 7.5%
between 2015 to 2020. Primarily, this is due to ‘infrastructure issues, making it
increasingly difficult for public health care systems to sustain current levels of service
and affordability’. This really is no surprise, particularly when we consider ‘the
affordability’ aspect. Healthcare is possibly the single biggest expense families
experience in terms of health insurance, ongoing treatments, emergency cases and
experimental programs. Hence, when families and patients do invest in their
healthcare, at least they should feel confident in their decision. This is not always
the case.
The level of disparity witnessed across healthcare services and providers is the stem
cause of this. With variations in care quality, access to specialist practitioners, and
requirements for treatment programs, naturally this causes doubt and concern
among patients who are just desperate to recover and willing to pay anything they
can afford. Desperation should not be taken advantage of, by healthcare institutions,
specialists or insurance providers. In an effort to overcome this major weakness in
the industry, we must consider new alternatives to aid the way we make our
healthcare decisions.