Technology for Healthcare — Solution or Enabler?

Medical Technology is a broad field where innovation plays a crucial role in sustaining health; areas like biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, information technology, the development of medical devices & equipment, and more have all made significant contributions to improving the health of people all around the world. From “small” innovations like adhesive bandages and ankle braces to larger, more complex technologies like MRI machines, artificial organs and robotic prosthetic limbs, technology has undoubtedly made an incredible impact on medicine.

Advancements in medical technology have saved countless lives and have generally improved the quality of life over time — giving doctors more confidence in relating with their patients through better diagnosis, surgical procedures and improved patient care.

Some of these advancements being reflected in the following fields are:

• Information Technology and Medicine: The contribution of IT to medicine has enabled the use electronic medical records which is a digital collection of a person’s health information that is stored on a paper, it contains a patient’s health history and is equivalent to paper records, only this time it’s more efficient, less bulky and chances of patients health information going missing amongst large bulk of papers is slim, also in cases where patients have to switch doctors, information is still easily accessible.
• Telemedicine: Commonly referred to as telehealth or e-medicine, refers to the treatment of patients remotely when the health provider and patient are not physically present. The birth of telecommunications technology brought about the use of Telemedicine. Patients are attended to using HIPAA compliant video-conferencing tools.
• Technology and Medical Equipment: Change is constant in the healthcare sector especially when it comes to medical equipment, technologists have found a way to improve the quality of life for patients by coming with new and improved medical equipment.
• Technology and Medical Research: Accuracy of medical research has been made easier with the advent of the internet, researchers can get access to ancient practices that can be useful in modern-day medicine.

With the Coronavirus pandemic severely affecting the operations of multiple organizations, the world looks towards the medical sector for answers and in turn, the medical sector is looking towards technology for assistance. Since Nigeria recorded its index COVID-19 case, there has been an exponential increase in confirmed cases closely followed by the state of emergency and subsequent lock-downs.

There is an urgent need to flatten the curve and the tech community is trying to create and harness tools available to them in order to effect solutions that will aid in doing this, taking into consideration the urgency behind the fact that Nigeria is a poor state.

Though we may not have the cure, our natives are answering the following questions:

• How to assist the NCDC get access to individuals with symptoms in real-time
• Since the onset of this pandemic, the media has peddled a lot of bad news and this has led to “corona anxiety”. How do we let everyone know not every sneeze or cough is related to the virus?
• How to assist the Lagos state government with food distribution during these times.
• Taking note of the agents in our environment that contribute to the exponential growth and adjacent to those agents.

According to our native Victor Ihedioha, a Constructor (Cohort 3) “We are working on a universal solution; an indigenous Covid-bot, that can help determine to an extent if you are exposed to the virus or not, if you need to speak to a health practitioner too. More importantly, it aims to bring health workers together remotely, who can help attend to peoples questions and keep them calm while the Federal agency, NCDC go about their core duties. And if there is really any need to contact NCDC directly, with regards to consultation with the health practitioners, then they will be contacted, knowing fully well, that it is a real urgent case.”

Technology is not the solution, it is the enabler. So when we talk about solving problems through technology, we must hold steady and not dive head-first to the conclusion that the solution to all problems resides in the creation of an application. It’s easy for one to neglect the tinkering process behind any solution because of the incessant focus shift to tangible items such as applications or websites which proposes the fallacy that technology has saved the day, whereas, technology is simply the enabler — a means to an end.

We strongly believe technology and research will enhance the work of scientists and medical personnel and in turn, their findings will be able to get the world out of this chaos. It’s time we demonstrate what we’re capable of.

In the meantime, stay home, stay safe.