Mobily launches the first mHealth solutions in the Kingdom

Leading Saudi telecom operator Mobily and Swedish infrastructure giant Ericsson running a mobile healthcare solution "proof of concept" for a major Healthcare institution in the Kingdom, whereby patients can be monitored remotely in a more effective manner.

Mobily mHealth solution is a telecom-enabled e-health solution, which provides wireless patient healthcare monitoring and gathering of vitals at predefined intervals and durations.

The solution is a crossbreed of the latest mobile information and communication technologies in the healthcare field that is simple to use, reliable and allows patient mobility.

"Mobily mHealth is a solution for smarter healthcare. Our collaboration with Ericsson will allow us to deliver innovative and high quality and reliable healthcare solutions to enrich the lives of our customers," said David Murphy, Mobily's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

"Most patients who are at risk, experience their problems outside the hospital, while they are at work, or out with their families. With Mobily Mobile Health doctors can be made aware immediately of a patient's problem and start attending to that problem," he added.

Mobily mHealth solution has three main components: a patient unit made up of medical measurement sensors and accessories and enabled by a 2G/3G communication device, which feeds information into a web-enabled backend system. Remote patient healthcare monitoring enables patients to be monitored regularly without commuting to medical institutions when not necessary. Furthermore, it enables healthcare providers to have patient measurement information at the disposal of doctors from any PC or compatible device.

"Real life benefits are immediate for at-risk and chronically ill patients. Imagine a patient missing a dose of a critical medicine or simply running out of medication. Today there are pill boxes that can tell doctors their patient has not taken their medicine. In this example, at least half the risk facing that patient has been mitigated," said Jamal Dahoo, Mobily's Account Manager at Ericsson.

"On the other hand, there are sensors that patients can wear and integrate into their lifestyle that can save them hundreds of hours a year in hospital visits to have their blood pressure monitored and registered, or be weighed," Jamal Dahoo added. "With Mobily, we can bring solutions like this to the people of Saudi Arabia."

Mobily mHealth is ideal for the chronically ill, senior citizens, patients recovering at home after hospitalization, a health-aware population with a desire to self-manage their personal health, and ambulance teams. Furthermore, Mobily mHealth brings an improved quality of life, optimal therapy and care through mobile monitoring, earlier diagnosis of pathological states, improved skills in disease self-management, improved treatment compliance by actively participating in the medical process, assurance of treatment based on valid and authentic data, and easy access to monitored health data.