In Bangladesh, startup provides rural health care through tablets
Sport & Fitness
mDoc bridges the gap between rural patients and urban doctors, using a cloud-based service and the help of village health professionals.
Rural medicine in parts of the developing world remains a struggle in a number of countries. Much of Bangladesh lacks medical infrastructure and relies on untrained village doctors to give basic treatment. With 70 percent of the population living in rural communities, the country faces a critical shortage of trained doctors. That’s what mDoc is trying to help improve — the service bridges the gap between urban doctors and village health professionals.
The service provide tablets, printers and medical devices to local pharmacists, and trains them to work with qualified doctors who cannot come out to the villages. First, the village pharmacist registers the patient and takes their medical measurements. This data is then sent to a doctor, who will start a call with the patient and begin the consultation, with the pharmacist standing by to take any physical tests. The doctor will then write a prescription, and the pharmacist is able to print it out in real-time.
The system uses existing local medicine providers to reach rural people who lack access. Patients will pay a fee for using the service, which is shared by the pharmacist and mDoc. The company says it aims to help reduce the number of incorrect prescriptions in the country and improve access to reliable healthcare across rural Bangladesh.
How else can technology provide better medical care to people in hard to reach communities?
9th February 2016
Website: www.m-doc.net
Contact: www.m-doc.net