Carethics

Saurabh Gupta

Way telecom is booming, why healthcare can’t benefit from it??….I spoke with one such company (Cellzar technologies) offering an interesting solution, a SMS management software that behaves pretty much like your standard Microsoft outlook email system. They have recently installed it with Dr. Batra's homeopathy..

The solution can be used for –
1. Reminders
2. Appointment booking
3. Internal communication
4. Interlinking of databases at various departments
5. Customer relationship management
6. Alerts

Imagine receiving a reminder to take your medicine or taking your child for vaccination or taking up an appointment through SMS, reports being messaged to you as well as your Doc, or receiving some tips to control weight….I think SMS can also be a convenient and private way of receiving information on sensitive subjects such as HIV and sexual health. Almost all major operators also have various daily alert programs offering yoga tips, diet tips and general health gyaan (I subscribed to health service by Airtel and this is what I got – Take almonds: If you love nuts, then you are in luck. Medical studies show that almonds contain as much protein per ounce as red meat…..wish they could have asked me what I need to know about).
I feel that SMS platform has not been fully explored as a means to deploy inexpensive patient management systems by the small and mid level service providers. In times to come it would be interesting to watch the impact of things like regional language SMS, SMS applications, SMS based devices and cell-phone based versions of systems that can be used by individual doctors.