Digitalization to achieve greener healthcare supply chain

Abstract

The push for digital transformation in the healthcare sector offers promising potential for reducing waste, enhancing resource utilization, and significantly diminishing the carbon footprint of healthcare operations. However, a pivotal challenge that emerges in the quest for a greener healthcare supply chain is interoperability. Through a qualitative methodology, this study delved into the interoperability challenges within Singapore's public healthcare supply chain by conducting in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. The analysis revealed four primary interoperability challenges: technological, data-centric, social, and stakeholder-related obstacles. These challenges span both social and technical aspects, aligning with a socio-technical system perspective. In response, this research proposes a conceptual framework for a digital-enabled, green public healthcare supply chain. The framework comprises four interrelated components to tackle the interoperability challenges: adopting an ecosystem perspective, fostering resilience orientation for the healthcare supply chain, recognizing the pivotal role of technology as a driver and enabler, and implementing necessary management changes and support. The findings of this study are poised to make a substantial contribution to integrating healthcare operations with broader sustainability objectives, advancing towards the goal of net-zero emissions.