NYU Med Student links doctors in Ghana through cell phone network
Posted by: admin in Mobile Gadget
If you’ve ever had to rely on multiple physicians tag teaming an ailment, chances are it wasn’t the smoothest process. Between the Doctor-Patient privacy laws and the half dozen middle men involved, the process almost assuredly hit a snag or two along the way. Now, take away the widespread internet access that grants for instant communication - the process would grind to a halt.
That lack of communication is the problem Brian Levine, a fourth year Med student at New York University, is looking to tackle in Ghana. After setting out to build an on the web social network for physicians in the region, he found that the required infrastructure just wasn’t there. Few physicians had computers, and even fewer had access to the web. What they did have, however, were cell phones. If he couldn’t link them across the web, he’d link them through cell towers.
The main obstacle was cost; though physicians had access to phones, calling one another was high-priced. Brian teamed up with Ghana Telecom to build a new mobile network, “Medicare Line”, on which registered doctors can call each other at no expense. With the help of the Ghana Medical Association, they’ve already signed up more than two thousand physicians who have since made over a million calls on the network.
Awesome work, Brian. In a country with far too few doctors for its ever expanding population, any mission to improve the health care system is a valiant one.
[Via AfricanLoft. Thanks for the tip, Kaushal!]
Via Mobilecrunch
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