Archive: June 2011

I am so delighted that Professor Ganapathy today in his key-note speach at the GSMA-mHA summit highlighted what I have failed to hear on other congresses and that I am a strong advocate for;

mHealth must meet a real need of the patient!

Not just a mHealth application where the “homework” is not done by new and old players who are eagerly trying to get a large piece of the big mHealth cake.

As I mentioned before, no business decision should be made before the new product – in this case mHealth services – clearly meets the need or solves a problem for the end user – in this case patient.

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Can a mobile handset spread bacteria and diseases as it is difficulet to clean?

Knowing that Doctors love latest mobile technology/smartphones, the question arises; is it really the optimal hardware to use for them in the hospital?

A mobile phone is difficult to clean several times a day and the debate is going on, if this can be an infectious spreader…… I must agree.

I also don’t see the benefits of having a mobile phone with small display as a recording tool for the Doctor in the clinic, where computers – tablet PC’s, PC’s, portable PC’s – are available everywhere. The risk for errors increase with the small size of the display and writing area.

The biggest benefit with mobile technology in health care is the communication with the patient. This can be done between a PC in the Doctors office and the patients mobile phone. This is how we have developed our service.

Like our mHealth services can bridge the gap between doctor and patient, our tsunami notification service can bridge the gap between sesimologists and people in coastal areas.

We all remember Boxing Day 2004. What everyone does not know is that it normally takes 30 – 90 minutes after an earth quake in the Indian Ocean, before the wave hits the shore. In 2004 it took about 30 min to hit A&N Islands, 1 hour 40 min to hit Sri Lanka and  1 hours 30 min to hit Thailand.

In Japan March 2011, it took 30 minutes before it hit the shore. It takes 8 – 12 minutes for a seismologist to send out a notification .

So, when an earth quake occurs of  M>6.5 in the Indian Ocean, and if a tsunami is expected, or already confirmed, the seismologists working in the tsunami center will send out an notification to the subscriber’s mobile phone.

Initially, the center will send out an sms  notification directing the recipients to view a detailed bulletin on the web for further information.  In the near future, location based messages will be sent out, including location based ETA’s (estimated time of arrival), EWA’s (Estimated wave amplitude) and Threat Status.

It will be launched by Airtel on June 7th and you can subscribe for it, as follows;

Customer has to send ‘HEALTH’ as SMS to 54444. He will receive a menu of options to choose from. Customer shall reply with another SMS by selecting and typing 5 (Option No. 5 = MORE). On selecting option 5, customer will be prompted to send keyword “EARTH” to 54444 and he will be subscribed to the notification service.

Imagine if this mobile tsunami notification service had been in place in Japan in March 2011.

In todays world, the PC is slovely moving to the mobile phone. More and more people – also in the developing countries – have access to a mobile phone and know how to use it.

To increase awareness and knowledge of a disease educational messages can be sent to the patients mobile phone. Formal studies and anecdotal evidence demonstrate that SMS alerts have a measurable impact on and a greater ability to influence behavior than radio and television campaigns. The message can be read in all confidentiality and stored if wanted.

If we can achieve a better insight in the disease for the patient and educate the public on chronic diseases, we can decrease complications and reduce false perceptions, stigma and discrimination, by influencing the public by factual information.

In a few weeks time we will launch the first educational service for HIV in India together with Heroes Project http://www.heroesprojectindia.org and Airtel – the largest operator in India.

Every complication, every discriminating act due to mis-perception that we can avoid with this service, will make it worth while. My nurse heart fills with happiness to see the devotion from Heroes Project and Airtel to get the information out to the public. Organisations like theese, brings back the hope for life and a better world.