MOBILE HEALTH
Mobile health is a significant part of
the digital revolution and the apps
can educate individuals and help
them manage chronic diseases. Often
when the information spreading via
doctor-patient meetings falls short,
the use of these mobile apps can
cognition and memory problems for
long-term care. This field of research
is being highly noticed with every
new company start-up; and even
the old pharmaceutical giants are
noticing the developments in digital
medicine.
The internet is the biggest platform
to bring awareness to digitalization in
the field of medicine. There are many
popular websites on which there is a
large penetration of awareness, such
as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and
even YouTube with LinkedIn leading
in presence of the key players, maybe
not so much in activity and utility.
knowledge among the medical
community
through
advanced
networks, technology enabled peer-
to-peer reviews and emergency
medical
consultations
during
emergency due to epidemics with
mobile device laboratory capabilities
and digital clinical trials.
allow the patients to interact directly
with the doctors without any urgent
scheduling required. This is not only
cost efficient, but convenient to doctor
as well as the patient. Mobile health
also assists in disease surveillance,
keeping track of outbreaks, and aids
in supporting treatment.
DIGITAL MEDICINE
But when it comes to the actual
research happening, there are many
fields in which creative growth is
occurring, such as the research for
targeted deliverance systems which
can also reach the difficult to access
internal organs and can even cross the
blood brain barrier! There is research
being done for automated healthcare
for those patients which suffer from
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Volume 4 | Issue 1 | January-March 2019
Everyone from individuals to big
companies are pro-digital health,
as it is more efficient, cost friendly,
and provides benefits for everyone.
North America is the leader in digital
progress and is dominating the market
because of the large number of players
and increasing partnership between
them. Government schemes as well as
quick improvements in the IT scene
allow large growth of this industry. As
with any industry, it will eventually
spread globally, uniting the world
under a digital health banner.
GROWTH
As a model, however, this industry
has not taken off to imaginable
heights and there is a large scope
for growth. Even though there is
potential, the issue arises when
there is no integration of private and
government sectors. This, however, is
also due to high capital expenditure
to develop the infrastructure in
moderate economies and therefore
cloud based systems can be a possible
solution. As more and more people
use smartphones, the increase in
demand for mobile apps provides an
ample room for the digital technology
bomb to light its fuse. When it is
easy to bring about awareness, the
actions taken due to that awareness
will lead to a positive outcome.
The rural populations access to
healthcare services increases and
offers them a large scope of point
of care diagnostics, teleconsultation
and e-prescription facilities. This
expansion in rural areas can lead to
the increased pace of urbanization
and therefore increase progress in any
third world country. As integration
of these technologies happens with
the standard healthcare system, the
efficiency will increase, and this can
help control the lack of healthcare
in the ever growing population, and
make healthcare cheaper and more
easily available. Eventually, given the
right conditions, perhaps healthcare
will be seen as a basic human right
due to the strides in technology.
After understanding these benefits, it
is irrefutable that digital healthcare can
help bridge the gap between resource
management and human labor in the
medical field and is therefore a major
key to our future. The world needs
digital health, for a better and healthier
tomorrow. There is a large scope for
global market growth as well as India,
and we must take initiative to ensure
that the digital healthcare revolution
becomes practicable.Accelerating the
advancement of digital medicine, will
soon make it a way of life and we will
then just call it medicine, not just a
part of it.
Dr. Deepti Saini is a Ph.D. in
Biochemistry from AIIMS. After a
decade of academic research and
another half decade spent in corporate
research, she has ventured into
entrepreneurship under the banner of
“Protein Design” based in Bengaluru.