Siemens Healthineers outlines barriers to timely stroke diagnosis in ASEAN

Siemens Healthineers released a report on strengthening stroke system readiness across ASEAN, focusing on delays that occur before patients reach stroke centers. The findings outline where timing gaps appear in the stroke pathway and what factors affect access to timely diagnosis and treatment.

The report was presented at Hospital Management Asia (HMA) 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand, and drew on insights from seven experts across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. It described transportation delays, slow reporting processes, and constraints such as limited government funding, weak inter-hospital coordination, and reimbursement gaps. It also identified workforce shortages and inconsistent implementation of triage protocols.

According to the report, delays occurred at the pre-hospital stage, where low public awareness slowed response to symptoms, and during inter-facility transfers, where fragmented referral pathways prevented timely arrival at the right level of care. The report also said that many patients did not activate emergency medical services quickly enough in the earliest stages of stroke. It noted that expert discussions included shortages of trained professionals, specifically neurointerventional nurses and neurovascular surgeons.

Siemens Healthineers said the report covered collaboration and approaches already in use, including Singapore’s long-term national stroke planning and coordinated emergency medical services, Indonesia’s hub-and-spoke model, Vietnam’s Stroke International Services (SIS) model, Thailand’s Mobile Stroke Unit, and Malaysia’s multidisciplinary stroke teams. It also described artificial intelligence as an enabler for earlier detection of large vessel occlusions, case prioritization, workflow optimization, and tele-stroke support, while stating that technology needed integration into clinical pathways and support from trained professionals, referral networks, and standardized protocols. “Every healthcare system across Southeast Asia is at a different stage of its stroke care journey, yet many of the challenges are shared,” said Fabrice Leguet. “Improving outcomes is not solely about expanding infrastructure and technology. It also depends on how effectively the entire stroke system works together, from recognizing symptoms and activating emergency medical services to rapid diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation.”

Press release, provided by Cision on behalf of Siemens Healthineers. Read the original.