In Japan’s Rural Areas, Remote Obstetrics Fills the Gap

I missed this in the New York Times last week, on how rural Japan is lacking in obstetricians and how pregnant women are examined remotely by obstetricians using real-time data transmitted to the doctors’ cellphones.

"... Using the system, Ms. Kikuchi, a practicing midwife, visits patients at their homes or receives them at a clinic in Tono to follow up on their pregnancies. During the examination, a machine hooked to the patient’s stomach records the baby’s heartbeat and sends the information over a cellular network to Ms. Kikuchi’s cellphone and the cellphone of Dr. Toshihiro Ogasawara at Kamaishi Hospital."

emily | 10:50 AM | Health Issues and SMS Alerts |
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