April 30, 2003
Why not camera/video phones for hospitals with "no visitor" rule
As the no-visitor rule came into effect in Singapore hospitals, their adminstrators are looking into issuing mobile or cordless phones to SARS patients, and providing video-conferencing equipment to help them keep in touch with their loved ones, per an article in the Straits Times.
According to an article in Forbes, Japan's Sharp Corp, a pioneer of the country's ubiquitous camera-equipped cellphones, said on Wednesday it will start selling camera-phones in China, expanding its reach beyond established markets in Japan and Europe. It would be a nice gesture for Sharp and other handset manufacturers to provide the Singapore hospitals and the patients familes with some camera and video phones.
After posting this last entry, I fell on an article in Cellular News suggesting that very same thing - though for cell phones, not camera or video/phones: "Singapore's SingTel is providing US$11,000 worth of mobile phones and mobile phone services to the Communicable Disease Centre managed byTan Tock Seng Hospital which is currently treating SARS patients. Sixty mobile phones and 60 pre-paid cards have been given to the CDC for use by SARS patients and those who are quarantined at the Centre". Nice.
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