Digital twins in healthcare: A pathway to sustainable hospital optimisation

Chiremba, a resource-constrained district hospital in rural Zimbabwe, faced significant operational challenges, including long patient wait times and inefficient resource allocation. These issues hindered timely and effective healthcare delivery, compromising patient care. Having learnt of the University of Johannesburg Business School's previous work on healthcare equipment maintenance optimisation, the hospital decided to partner the school's fourth industrial revolution (4IR) Research team to develop and implement a custom digital twin solution to address these problems. This case study examines the hospital's journey, showcasing how the digital twin leveraged real-time data to optimise patient flows, medicine stock management, and to enhance decision-making. The implementation resulted in significantly reduced wait times, decreased medicine wastage, and efficient resource allocation, ultimately improving both patient outcomes and the hospital's economic sustainability. The case offers valuable insights for the reader, demonstrating the potential of digital tools and innovative partnerships to improve healthcare delivery and contribute to more sustainable and equitable healthcare systems in resource-limited settings.