Background: The purpose of this paper is to explore on the main barriers related to the Internet of Things devices adoption in healthcare, with specific concern to developing countries.

Methods: A qualitative research approach with the systematic combination method has been adopted, considering an Indian hospital as a research setting. Semi-structured interviews were carried out as part of the data collection process

Results: The study helped us identify some of the main factors affecting IoT adoption in the hospital, categorised under three different sections: 1) technological barriers, 2) organisational barriers, and 3) environmental barriers. Findings suggest that IoT adoption barriers in hospitals are related to adoption challenges mainly focused on technological acceptance, complexity, organisational behaviour, lack of expertise and infrastructure, lack of stringent regulations and standards, and finally, security and privacy concerns.

Conclusion: Thus, this research makes a unique contribution for researchers and hospital managers in developing countries to understand the common barriers behind the IoT adoption process and to understand the steps to be taken to overcome these barriers. © 2025, Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries.