Revolutionizing Kenyan Healthcare Consultancy: Exploring IoT Innovations and other Enabling Technologies– A Case Study

The integration of powerful technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) inhealthcare addresses the complex nature of the industry, facilitating communication, coordination, and decision-makingamong various departments. This becomes particularly crucial in the context such as the COVID-19 pandemic, wheredeveloping countries faced increased demand for healthcare services, limited resources, and a lack of robust healthsystems. Through the utilization of IoT and agent-based systems, remote consultations and virtual doctors can provideessential healthcare services by analyzing patient data and medical history. This paper examined the existing Internet ofThings (IoT) approaches in use in health consultancy in Kenya. The study included referral hospitals as sample units,focusing on medical consultants and utilizing scholarly literature recommendations. Three (3) Hospital facilities wereselected based on their capacity for training, research, and referrals. The study respondents comprised the generalsuperintendent, medical consultants, health system managers, medical students, and patients. Interviews and surveyquestions were used for data collection. The instruments average validity test score was (.84) and reliability score of(.799) based on Chronbach’s Alpha. The findings of the study reveals that some hospitals have integrated IoT technologyin health consultancy services in Kenya with a significant improvements in data management, diagnosis accuracy, andpatient outcomes, but there is need to address concerns regarding data security, privacy, standardization and infrastructurewhich was pointed out to be crucial for fully harnessing its potential. It also indicates that in Kenya, a majority ofhealthcare facilities are using Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems and have reliable internet connectivity, althoughthere are variations in the availability of hardware and software technology, suggesting the need for targetedimprovements and investments in the healthcare technological infrastructure.