opinion
Tele-Health
Taking it Beyond the Pilot Phase There are more than 540 million mobile phones in India, which can be used for pushing as well pulling information about preventive healthcare, as well as other healthcare services
Mobile interface is changing the generation, our society, our habits, the way we handle our daily lives and thus impacting every business. It is estimated that 92 percent of the US adults are on cell phones, one out of eight marriages in the US happen via internet, 80 percent of the world is under cell phone coverage and 80 percent of twitter is used on mobile. Word of mouth is transforming into the word of mobile. Anyone who ignores the role of mobile in his business is committing a great strategic mistake. Usefulness of mHealth is never debated;
usability is, and that is a big challenge for both the providers and users. If we are to overcome this hurdle, we must make the right start, and focus upon the areas of rural, geriatric and mental health. If we cannot do this, mHealth would never move beyond the pilot stage.
Ignorance is not bliss Most individual doctors are blissfully oblivious of what is happening in the field of mHealth and of the tremendous untapped potential this technology holds in bridging the urban rural health divide. Unless awareness is created and success stories highlighted, there will be no significant change. We will have more pilots in the mHealth arena than there are in the Indian Air Force!! We have a long way to go before a mobile phone becomes a hand held hospital, before refractive errors can be checked with it, before it is used as a microscope or before DICOM images can be manipulated, ECGs seen, heart sounds heard and the mobile from a patient used to connect bluetooth enabled sensors and a Body Area Network to a physician remotely. Storing mPHR and enabling access to drug interactions appears child’s play compared to this. Considering that worldwide, even in 2007, only 20 of the 50 documented mHealth projects were actually operational, serving less than 100,000 people, progress is certainly being made. Who could have predicted even two years ago that a mHealth summit in Nov 2010 in Washington would attract 2300 attendees, 200 speakers and 125 exhibitors from all over the world. However, less than 10 november / 2011 www.ehealthonline.org
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