Smartphones as the most popular medical devices

At Telenor Hungary’s second Futurology Symposium in Budapest, futurologist Zoltán Galántai, information society researcher Árpád Rab, and medical-blogger Bertalan Meskó MD discussed the future of medicine and healthcare with Christopher Laska, CEO and Frank Klausz III, Chief Corporate Development of Telenor Hungary.

“Telenor has the expertise and knowledge to develop revolutionary mHealth solutions. We wanted to know how our technology can help best. Therefore we examined 12 Telenor countries to see how we can help with our technologies. We examined, for instance how can we increase efficiency in modern healthcare through remote monitoring solutions that enable the elderly people to live longer in their own homes. In our vision, smartphone is a magic wand in our hands that will offer ideal solutions to greatly burdened healthcare systems. Eventually, all you need is a mobile phone to make true wonders”, said Christopher Laska, CEO of Telenor Hungary, at the event.

mHealth: A win-win situation

This year’s study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), in cooperation with Telenor, explores the potential impact of mHealth solutions, such as how Norway can save € 1.5 billion each year with remote monitoring solutions for the elderly and how Hungary could save 40,000 nights in the hospital by treating certain patients remotely.

At the Futurology Symposium the media and the public received information on how Telenor’s mHealth blood pressure and glucose mHealth appliances worked in five hospitals of Szabolcs-Szatmár county, enabling doctors to provide quality care to patients, by increasing effectiveness and avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions.

“mHealth can be one of the keys to redefining and reinvigorating our struggling healthcare systems, as well as enhancing the healthy lifestyles and longevity of our citizens”, said Frank Klausz III. “The telecommunications industry is well-positioned to play a central role in the evolution of mobile healthcare. Together with doctors, patients, healthcare providers and with a strong commitment from the regulatory side we can achieve a rare moment in healthcare: a true win-win situation”, he added.

Telenor mHealth solutions in Hungary and abroad

• Medistance in Hungarian hospitals: 480 Medistance blood pressure and blood sugar level measuring devices help in the more efficient treatment of 120 patients in 5 hospitals in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county. Watch a video about the project on YouTube (in Hungarian)
• HealthTrack, the healthcare app: A revolutionary application called HealthTrack system has been developed at Medical Informatics R&D Center, University of Pannonia (UP). The system is based on smart phone applications for dietary and lifestyle counselling, while the health related personal data collected from various sensors are stored in the Telenor Objects Shepherd data store developed by Telenor Group.
• Telenor Objects and Telenor Connexion: At Telenor, we are very active in introducing a variety of mHealth products worldwide. The Telenor Objects from Norway and Telenor Connexion from Sweden offered a selection of mHealth appliances at the event that enable remote diagnostics and treatment, e.g. fall detection, blood pressure-and glucose measurements, movement detection, GPS-tracking, temperature measurements.

Learn more about the mHealth study and get an overview of mHealth activities in the Telenor Group