Oct 14, 2025

Philips Future Health Index 2025: South Africa’s Healthcare Sector Ready for AI Leap – But Time Is of the Essence

South African healthcare professionals show unprecedented confidence in AI, with 91% believing it can reduce hospital admissions — well above the global average of 75%.

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, has released the South African findings of its tenth Future Health Index (FHI), revealing strong optimism among South African healthcare professionals toward artificial intelligence’s (AI) transformative potential. The 2025 report explores how digital innovation and AI can help South Africa's healthcare sector reclaim time, refocus on patient care, and build a more resilient and responsive system.

Drawing on perspectives of healthcare professionals and patients from across the country, the research shows 91% of South African healthcare professionals demonstrate confidence that AI and predictive analytics will reduce hospital admissions, compared to 75% globally. This positions South Africa as a leader in the strategic adoption of AI across diverse healthcare settings and communities.

“South Africa has a tremendous opportunity to advance the future of healthcare through strategic AI implementation,” says Romulen Pillay, Managing Director, Philips Southern Africa. "This strong professional confidence, combined with our diverse healthcare landscape, creates the foundation for AI adoption in healthcare that can serve as models for other regions."

South Africa has a tremendous opportunity to advance the future of healthcare through strategic AI implementation.

Romulen Pillay

Managing Director, Philips Southern Africa

AI’s Transformative Potential

Beyond preventive care leadership, South African healthcare professionals demonstrate strong confidence in AI's operational benefits. The research reveals significant efficiency opportunities, as 78% of healthcare professionals currently experience delays due to incomplete or inaccessible patient data. Notably, 32% of these lose over 45 minutes per shift – equivalent to 23 working days per year[1].

"This presents a significant opportunity to streamline workflows and redirect valuable clinical time to patient care," says Pillay.

Healthcare professionals envision clear AI benefits:

94% believe AI can expand capacity to serve more patients
91% expect reduced patient wait times
90% anticipate more accurate and timely medical interventions

Recognising the urgency of addressing delays and inefficiencies in care delivery, clinicians also warn that slow adoption of digital health technologies could undermine progress. They worry that slower AI implementation could lead to missed opportunities for early intervention, an inability to provide cutting-edge care, and a growing backlog of patients.

At the same time, clinicians recognise that for these new care models to work, patients need to be on board with AI and digital technologies, which is where the real challenge may lie.

Bridging the AI Trust Gap

The inclusion of patient perspectives adds a powerful dimension to this year's Index, revealing encouraging foundations for AI adoption. The report reveals a 17 percentage-point trust gap between the optimism of healthcare professionals (83%) and patients (66%) around AI in healthcare.

While half (49%) are concerned it could reduce face-to-face time with their doctors, most patients support increased technology use if it improves access to care and benefits patients like them.

Patient acceptance shows strong potential across applications:

82% of patients feel comfortable with AI for appointment scheduling
67% of patients feel comfortable with AI for medical notetaking
68% of patients feel comfortable with AI for patient triage

Significantly, 92% of patients would feel more comfortable with AI if they received information about it from their doctors, positioning healthcare professionals as key champions for successful patient AI implementation, creating valuable opportunities for professional-led patient education and engagement.

The Path Forward

The FHI 2025 report for South Africa reveals that care delays are impacting patient health, with a third (33%) of patients reporting worsening health due to not seeing a doctor sooner, and around 1 in 5 (22%) having been admitted to a hospital due to long wait times.

The Future Health Index 2025 offers a clear direction for turning these system limitations into a catalyst for future health. The report calls for collaboration between policymakers, industry leaders, and patient advocacy groups to create a framework for responsible, human-centric AI adoption that reinforces, not replaces, the human connection at the heart of care.

“By working together across the sector, we can turn these insights into action. We invite healthcare leaders across South Africa to join us in shaping a future where technology and trust work together to build a more resilient, equitable, and human healthcare system,” concludes Pillay.

For more information, or to download the full FHI 2025 South Africa Report, visit https://www.philips.co.za/a-w/about/news/future-health-index/reports/2025/building-trust-in-healthcare-ai.html

Reference
[1] Based on an eight-hour shift, working 250 days per year. This amounts to 187.50 hours lost per healthcare professional on average.

About Royal Philips:

Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people’s health and well-being through meaningful innovation. Philips’ patient- and people-centric innovation leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver personal health solutions for consumers and professional health solutions for healthcare providers and their patients in the hospital and the home. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, ultrasound, image-guided therapy, monitoring and enterprise informatics, as well as in personal health. Philips generated 2024 sales of EUR 18 billion and employs approximately 67,300 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter.

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