Drew Cogbill | Thesis Blog

In many places, such India, Bangladesh, and where I am in Belize, there aren’t enough doctors for all of the patients that need care, especially in rural areas.  MobileActive.org talked with Krishnan Ganapathy about telemedicine via mobile phone networks.

Currently, a paramedic or nurse must take the readings, but a device called mDoc, “specialized mobile phone with lots of added features“, is in the works which will allow laypeople to easily and noninvasive take readings which can be transmitted to doctors.

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. The greatest part of this is that villages in India which still do not have a landline, which still do not have a wired phone, are directly going into the 21st century by using wireless technology.

I would like every single human being on this planet to know within three years from now that it is possible to get health care through a mobile phone…. People will get interested, a business case will develop, and it will become a reality.