For the burgeoning mobile health (m-health) sector to reach its full potential in SA, it is vital that healthcare specialists get more involved in the initiatives.
This is the view of analysts, who argue that though partnerships between mobile operators and the healthcare industry are crucial for m-health projects in their pilot stages, in the long run there should be more involvement by the healthcare industry as well as application developers who have industry-specific experience.
Analyst firm Gartner notes that regardless of forecasts that usage of mobile and wireless technologies will skyrocket in the coming years, many healthcare CIOs have not implemented strategies to accommodate new devices, sensors and applications.
According to the World Health Organisation, in a report last month - 'mHealth: New Horizons for Health through Mobile Technologies' - analysing data from 112 countries by 14 m-health activity types - the majority of m-health projects are still in the pilot phase.
Age of take-off
Pieter Streicher, MD of BulkSMS, argues that with most projects still budding, it is appropriate that mobile operators drive m-health initiatives in order to demonstrate to the healthcare sector what can be done if they tap into the power of mobile.
“Partnerships between operators and the healthcare industry to develop m-health applications will act as a catalyst for this new industry. But a partnership-based approach is not enough in the long-run,” he says.
However, Streicher contends that the strategy of some mobile operators to own all mobile applications at all costs could stifle innovation. He points out that mobile operators can only partner with a handful of parties, yet there are hundreds of healthcare application developers who could add value to the ecosystem.
“In order for mobile-enabled healthcare services to reach their potential, they need to work on any network, anywhere in the world. Developers in the healthcare industry need to be able to build network-agnostic applications that can be bought off the shelf and deployed in any country.
“With this in mind, mobile operators should provide access to mobile communication channels such as SMS and use open standards to enable connectivity to their networks. The operators must not lose focus of their core business, which is to provide reliable and cost-effective mobile communications with maximum reach,” says Streicher.
Local offerings
Peter Benjamin, MD of Cell-Life, acknowledges that many m-health programmes in SA are still in pilot stages. “There hasn't been a dramatic rise in m-health services yet. Though SA lags the developed counties in regards to m-health, it competes well with other African countries.”
SA has started to roll out a series of new projects aimed at improving access and lessening the burden on the health system through cellphones.
One such local m-health project taking advantage of the new Internet mobility is Intertel, rolled out by FolioOnline. Similar to telephone interpretation services available in many US hospitals, this cellphone-based medical interpretation service provides interpreters trained in 32 different South African languages for medical interviews and patient communication.
There is also Cell-Life, a project involved with the government's HIV testing campaign using donated cellphones. The organisation merged cellphone technology with Internet and database systems to develop a medical management system that provides virtual infrastructure to support patients on anti-retroviral treatment.
Telco initiatives
In May, SA's second largest mobile operator MTN rolled out its MTN CareConnect initiative. Run in partnership with financial services group Sanlam, CareConnect is a nurses' advisory line that assists the public with everyday health queries. Still in its pilot stage, MTN says it plans a national roll-out of the programme by end of year.
During the GSMA Mobile Health Summit held in Cape Town last month, Chris Ross, managing executive for commercial development of Vodacom SA, highlighted the role of the mobile operator as a key enabling partner in the m-health ecosystem.
“We are an enabler. We don't purport to be the medical profession, but we underpin the activities that the medical profession takes part in,” said Ross.
The telco revealed that its business division will offer mobile or fixed connectivity over a virtual private network to a hosted database, delivering a centralised, client-specific management service for all current and future medical device and service companies.
However, during the conference, Carlos Martinez Miguel, head of strategic analysis and planning of Telefonica, said there is no intention from the operator community to replace the role of the medical profession.
“Medical professionals must lead the change - they have to be involved from the beginning and consider technology as an aid, not as a threat.”
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