[Health] Fwd: [hifa2015] Mobile phones for isolated health workers (5)

[Edward Cherlin]

FYI. We should get them to try out our GSoC EKG.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barbara Kirsop, 5 <EPT at biostrat.demon.co.uk>
Date: Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 4:11 AM
Subject: [hifa2015] Mobile phones for isolated health workers (5)
To: HIFA2015 <HIFA2015 at dgroups.org>


Colleagues:

There is an inspiring report in the Bytesforall forum, see
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/12405, in
which Professor Krishna Ganapathy, a practising neurosurgeon in India,
describes experiences using mobile phones and wireless technology to reach
remote health workers in India. A brief excerpt says, 'Last year, as a
pilot project, we worked with Ericcson. The Indian government is proposing
to make 3G technology available possibly by the end of the year, most
certainly by the beginning of next year. So we got a special license from
the government and used 3G technology to see if we could transmit data -
meaning: audio files, video files, visual images, and so on - and we
successfully looked after the health of 240 people in 15 villages in a
very small experimental study in September, 2007. But this gave us
tremendous confidence. We realized that in India it is possible
to transfer an ECG and to listen to heartbeats via a stethoscope with the
doctor and the patient several thousand miles away from each other using
purely wireless technology on mobile phones.' Ganapathy predicts that
mHealth will overtake previous communication problems. He says,: ' . . .we
hope to devise an instrument which we have, over the last few
days, given the name mDoc and we already have got the specifications. We
hope that in the not too distant future we will be able to bring low cost
affordable equipment to the masses. The mDoc will have certain sensors
which will measure the blood pressure, the ECG, etcetera, transmit this
totally non-invasively to their doctors and then this becomes a reality, a
patient herself or anyone in the house can use this equipment so you do
not even require a paramedic or a nurse.' Forwarded
to me by EPT Trustee Subbiah Arunachalam.

Barbara Kirsop

HIFA2015 profile: Barbara Kirsop is interested in the movement towards
free and open access to all published research papers through the global
Open Access movement. This interest is shared by her colleagues at the
Electronic Publishing Trust for Development,
http://www.epublishingtrust.org  EPT AT biostrat.demon.co.uk

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