January 24, 2005
SIMpill: Medication reminders via SMS
We've read about doctors sending text-message to their patients, reminding them to take their medecine, but this text alert monitoring system goes one step further.
"When a pill bottle is opened, it delivers an SMS to the central server - allowing to check against a database that the incoming SMS is within the appointed time tolerance set for the patient, or should no message be received, the server can produce a number of responses such as sending a reminder to the patient's handset, a family member, or a healthcare professional, reports ITWeb.
The wireless monitoring and support of patients on chronic medication has been developed by Cape Town-based company SIMpill and telecoms partner Tellumat Communications.
According to SIMpill inventor Dr David Green, "there is a huge problem regarding non-compliance with prescribed medication, with 60% of South African patients forgetting to take their medication, leading to high hospitalisation costs." This should help.
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