Medic Mobile Announces First SIM Application for Healthcare

When we think of applications for cell phones we immediately think of smartphones, or even the new tablets that are becoming so popular.  However, just think about how much more powerful an app would be if it could be used on normal phones too.  That is exactly what the people from Medic Mobile have done by developing the first SIM app for healthcare.

SIM apps can operate on 80 percent of the world’s phones.  This includes powerful Android phones or iPhones, but also a run of the mill $15 handset.  The magnitude of this development just blows me away.  In most of the developed world smartphones are everywhere, and there will only be more as time goes on.  However, most people in less developed countries can’t generally afford these much more expensive devices.

This development will allow these less fortunate people to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities that technology provides.

You can find the complete press release here, but here are some of the interesting quotes:

“In healthcare, it’s necessary to exchange structured information. SIM apps provide a new method with great potential that can be installed and updated remotely over the air,” says CTO and Lead Developer Dieterich Lawson.

Medic’s first official SIM app is Kuvela, developed for PSI with support from the Maternal Health Task Force, and the company plans to develop many more. “We required reporting tools that can be rolled out at large scale for low cost. The combination of a SIM application and a reporting dashboard will allow us to closely monitor the quality of our program across multiple districts. This would’ve been otherwise impossible without Medic Mobile’s work,” said Gunther Baugh, Project Coordinator for PSI.

“People get excited about the iPhone apps because of profit potential. We’re excited about designing SIM applications because of the impact potential,” says Nesbit. “I can imagine all eight million global community health workers utilizing SIM applications to support their work and improve the lives of their patients.”

   

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