Development of mobile phone based telemedicine system with interfaced diagnostic equipment for essential healthcare in rural areas of Low Resource Countries

University of Dhaka. Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology

Development of mobile phone based telemedicine system with interfaced diagnostic equipment for essential healthcare in rural areas of Low Resource Countries

University of Dhaka. Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology

In low resource countries qualified doctors for medical care is not available to the majority of the people who lives in rural areas. Telemedicine offers an acceptable solution to this problem. Previous to the ISIF Asia grant, our organization developed and tested on the field a PC based telemedicine system with several diagnostic devices like Stethoscope, ECG machine, spirometer, etc., integrated into it, offering affordability and sustained use ensuring local maintenance and repair.

This project aimed at converting that whole system into a mobile phone based platform so that the service can be taken to the homes of people through rural health workers with all essential diagnostic devices connected to the internet through smartphones. The following devices were targeted for development: Stethoscope, ECG, Respiration monitor, Thermometer, Blood SpO2, Tele Palpation and Remote Blood Pressure monitoring.

The basic technology for the main platform, software for the user interface (both health operator and doctor) and three devices – stethoscope, ECG and lungs/respiration monitor has been developed. This will form the basis on which a commercial prototype may be designed if the needed financial support is available. The project has also given us some lessons in terms of teamwork which will be useful in future.

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