The deployment of 3G technology promises to transform the $35-billion healthcare sector in the country. Till now, mHealth or the use of mobile technology in healthcare has been restricted to spreading awareness and collecting data. The third generation mobile technology will enable doctors to view images like ECGs/X-Rays/scans sent from remote locations and offer real time diagnostic and treatment solutions and even monitor faraway patients in an emergency.
Vishal Bali, CEO, Fortis Hospitals, says, “Mobile healthcare can usher in the next revolution in the healthcare industry. Bandwidth won’t be a constraint anymore.” The group is already offering telemedicine services and is keen to use the new technology to connect its superspecialists in metros with patients in remote locations.
Apollo Group of Hospitals, which has set up Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation (ATNF) and runs 118 referral centres in India and five centres abroad, has so far used broadband for electronic transmission of patients records and teleconferencing to assess clinical examination of patients in far flung areas. Dr K Ganapathy, president, ATNF, says, “3G offers the bandwidth crucial for medical applications. We will use it as an enabler to increase the availability of advanced healthcare. Connecting the unconnected will be our slogan.” Saying that the new generation of mobile communication opens up exciting possibilities, Yogender Peddinti, general manager at ATNF, adds, “We will begin by integrating advanced mobile communication into our telemedicine system.”
It’s not only the corporate healthcare segment, which is gungho, but even the social healthcare players smell opportunities for more effective intervention. Paul Meyer, CEO of US-based mobile technology firm Voxiva, says, “We can do so much more with 3G. For the time being, Voxiva is looking at bringing to India its just launched Text4baby initiative in the US, which educates expecting women through mobiles.” Besides, the firm has devised a real time, mobile-based sales tracking solution for Population Services International (PSI), an NGO.
Dimagi, Inc’s cofounder Vikram Sheel Kumar too says, “Some telemedicine applications could greatly benefit from 3G connectivity.” For example, an initiative like the firms phone-based cervical cancer initiative in Zambia, which requires health workers taking photos of the woman’s cervix for sending over the network to be interpreted by an expert, could become more effective with 3G.
Similarly, Delhi-based ZMQ Software Systems, which is just rolling out its Freedom TB initiative for spreading awareness about the disease and its management through mobiles, is looking forward to 3G deployment. Saying that it increases the possibilities for enhanced intervention, founder Subhi Quraishi adds, “But it’s to be seen how the services are priced. Affordability is important for social healthcare businesses.” ZMQ’s earlier Freedom HIV/AIDS mobile games, which were launched on Reliance Infocomm in collaboration with the Delhi State AIDS Control Society, were focused on spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS in an interactive manner, thereby helping in the retention of knowledge and better care.
It’s not only healthcare and technology leaders, who are excited, but also academics and researchers. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, a professor at IIT Madras says, “It is certainly one more step ahead. We can overcome the constraint of narrow bandwidth with 3G and focus on delivery of quality healthcare services.”
Source: The Financial Express
Published on 18 April 2010