MHealth Reinventing The Future Of Health Care In India And Abroad

Vikas
Mar 18, 2014

Health care industry has been hit with rising essential drug and treatment costs. There is an immediate need to look into the factors which could change medicinal practices followed all over the globe. Wireless Technology has reached more than 94 per cent of the world's population. Seven billion people have access to mobile services. E-health provides potential solutions in health care services which are safe and cost-effective.

Health care service providers have not been able to bridge this gap, as technology has reached only the developed nations of the world. More of these services have been initiated in emerging economies; the internet is the only source to reach millions, offering efficient protection without investing too much.

M-Health

Mobile health is one of the growing practices followed in the developing nations, especially in African nations. Mobile applications provide a cheaper way to cater to the needs of the customers, and through SMS technology as well. The primary objective of these health applications is to quicken the outbreak identification process and improve existing facilities using disease surveillance solutions based on mobile technology.

According to statistics, more than 95 percent of medical facilities provide timely reporting in comparison to just 20 percent previously.

The only backlog is a lack of training for the workforce, as they need to be trained in using technology services. E-Health also gives options for consumers to be aware of the products and the medicines available online for quick delivery of the medicines, and there have been some successful e-health initiatives, such as the E-diabetes program. The factors which have popularized this phenomenon could reach people in no time, such as PING technology. The existing technologies in E-health are Electronic Health Recorder (EHR), Telehealth, Mobile health and decision support.

The emerging application development needs to be further explored, such as Cloud Computing, Social Media Networking and the Internet of all things. Especially, Cloud Computing becomes vital in providing access to medical information during a time of a natural disaster, while Google Glass is used to get real-time visual data for better decision making in health operations.

In the Recent update, the ‘MobileLink’ device comes with a simple design and is able to connect through USB. MobileLink is used to monitor blood pressure, diabetes, weight issues and other medications. More than 90 per cent of Russian "Text4baby" users are following advice through text message, which was introduced for new and expectant mothers worldwide known as "SMSMame". More than seventy-six per cent of women claimed to be highly satisfied with this service. In addition to this, nearly more than a quarter of users used this service for a year and a half.

M-health and E-health have become a revolution in the health sector, globally offering diverse options for treatment and medical availability even in very far-flung areas of the world. E-health has not only broken barriers in reaching many nations, irrespective of ethnic and cultural diversity.