Healthcare Services through Mobile Phones in Pakistan - Prospects of Mhealth

Abstract

Computers, mobile phones & internet have improved overall quality of life. Among these devices, mobile phones stand out being capable of multitude of communication and information sharing device. As smart mobile phones are converging convenience of communication, internet and exceptional computing powers; their use is setting new objectives for use of mobile phones. Mobile phones‘ exponential growth is fuelling the emergence of mobile health (mHealth). mHealth has been considered as innovative healthcare system which has the potential to transform healthcare facilities in developing countries. mHealth has several advantages over conventional systems such as personalized attention, removal of access barriers and minimal cost to replicate the health services & information. This research examines the impact of awareness, communication, socio economic status and technology adoption on success of mHealth in context of Pakistani. Whereas, trustworthiness of patients to adopt and use these mHealth services has been considered as moderating variable. To test the application of these factors, questionnaire based research was carried out in two major cities of Pakistan. The findings show that these factors contribute towards the success of mHealth. .The research indicates that establishing mHealth for Pakistani population can positively contribute towards health facilities at lesser cost and can serve both poor and rich populace. The findings‘ implications for application of mHealth and future research guidelines are also discussed.