Healthcare industry's IT spend to grow 3.4% to $1.2 billion

Healthcare providers in the country are expected to witness a marginal 3.4% uptick in their IT spend at $1.2 billion this year, Global consultancy firm Gartner said on Monday.

"Healthcare providers in India are expected to spend $1.2 billion on IT products and services in 2016, an increase of 3.4% over 2015," Gartner said in a note.

This includes spending by hospitals, hospital systems, nursing and residential care, university hospitals on internal services, software, IT services, data center systems, devices and telecom services, it added.

Gartner's Principal Research Analyst Moutusi Sau said IT service, which includes consulting, software support, implementation, hardware, IT outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO), will be the largest sub-category with spend of $339 million, up 5.2%.

From a growth perspective, BPO segment would witness the fastest pace with an estimate of 15.4%, the note said, without sharing an absolute figure.

Software market is expected to grow 6% in 2016 to reach $106 million, up from $100 million in 2015, while infrastructure would grow 4.5% in 2016 to reach $43 million, it said.

The ITO is expected to be the largest sub-segment in IT services, with a 7.5% increase to reach $107 million in 2016, it said.