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Towards the Systematic Development of Medical Networking Technology

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Abstract

Currently, there is a disparity in the availability of doctors between urban and rural areas of developing countries. Most experienced doctors and specialists, as well as advanced diagnostic technologies, are available in urban areas. People living in rural areas have less or sometimes even no access to affordable healthcare facilities. Increasing the number of doctors and charitable medical hospitals or deploying advanced medical technologies in these areas might not be economically feasible, especially in developing countries. We need to mobilize science and technology to master this complex, large scale problem in an objective, logical, and professional way. This can only be achieved with a collaborative effort where a team of experts works on both technical and non-technical aspects of this health care divide. In this paper we use a systems engineering framework to discuss hospital networks which might be solution for the problem. We argue that with the advancement in communication and networking technologies, economically middle class people and even some rural poor have access to internet and mobile communication systems. Thus, Hospital Digital Networking Technologies (HDNT), such as telemedicine, can be developed to utilize internet, mobile and satellite communication systems to connect primitive rural healthcare centers to well advanced modern urban setups and thereby provide better consultation and diagnostic care to the needy people. This paper describes requirements and limitations of the HDNTs. It also presents the features of telemedicine, the implementation issues and the application of wireless technologies in the field of medical networking.

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  1. http://www.health2con.com/

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Singapore, Singapore

    Oliver Faust, Rajendra Acharya U. & Chua Kok Poo

  2. Agent Technologies Software Private Limited Bangalore, 560 034, Bangalore, India

    Ravindra Shetty

  3. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    S. Vinitha Sree & E. Y. K. Ng

  4. Dept of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, India

    Sripathi Acharya

  5. Biomedical Technologies, Denver, CO, USA

    Jasjit Suri

  6. Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID, USA

    Jasjit Suri

Authors
  1. Oliver Faust
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  2. Ravindra Shetty
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  3. S. Vinitha Sree
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  4. Sripathi Acharya
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  5. Rajendra Acharya U.
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  6. E. Y. K. Ng
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  7. Chua Kok Poo
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  8. Jasjit Suri
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Correspondence to Oliver Faust.

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Faust, O., Shetty, R., Sree, S.V. et al. Towards the Systematic Development of Medical Networking Technology. J Med Syst 35, 1431–1445 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-009-9420-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-009-9420-4

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