Nawaloka Hospitals connects with Mobitel’s mHealth platform

Nawaloka Hospitals PLC in collaboration with the national mobile telecom service provider, Sri Lanka Telecom, Mobitel announced the launch of Sri Lanka’s first mHealth platform capable of delivering medical data over Mobitel network. The mHealth platform was unveiled at the opening of the latest state of the art 3 Tesla MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner installed at Nawaloka Hospital premises by the Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne and First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa.

The latest Siemens MAGNETOM® Skyra MRI scanner installed at Nawaloka Hospitals is equipped with 3 Tesla MRI scanning technology coupled with Tim+Dot (Total imaging matrix + day optimizing throughput) technologies taking MR imaging in Sri Lanka to the next level. The 3T MRI technology supersedes 1.5 T due to higher signal-to-noise ratio which enables much effective and faster image rendering, resulting in faster patient throughput and higher precision and quality. This is complimented by Tim’s newly designed high density coils combined with highest channel configurations enhancing speed, accuracy and flexibility while the Dot engine offers a customizable framework for patient personalization, user guidance and exam automation to help optimize every part of MRI workflow thus delivering superior quality and service excellence to patients aligning with Nawaloka Hospitals’ mission “Healing with Feeling.”

“Nawaloka Hospitals has always been in the forefront in healthcare sector in Sri Lanka bringing the latest technological advancements to nurture a healthier nation. Nawaloka Hospitals was the first to introduce cardiac surgery, intensive care unit, mammography, coronary angiography in the private sector and now the latest 3T MRI Technology coupled with mobility powered by mHealth platform,” said Jayantha Dharmadasa, Deputy Chairman of Nawaloka Hospitals PLC. “By using this latest facility we hope citizens of Sri Lanka will be privileged to have much faster and effective medical reports leading towards an efficient diagnosis and management, as we believe that health is the supreme wealth a human can possess.”

The power and the capabilities offered by the latest 3T MRI technologies are truly unlocked through Mobitel’s mHealth platform by adding the mobility dimension which empowers radiologists / consultants to access radiographic images remotely or while on the move. With this deployment Nawaloka Hospitals marks another pioneering feat in the local medical reporting domain. The integration of mHealth platform is a joint effort by the Information Systems Departments of Nawaloka Hospitals and Mobitel. The medical imagery data produced by both the new MRI and CT (Computed Tomography) scanners are pushed to the Mobitel mHealth server using DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) protocol over Mobitel radio network. Such medical data are made available to the radiologists/ medical consultants on their desktop workstations, laptops with internet dongles or fully mobile devices like tablet PCs and smart phones where the medical consultants will be given the freedom to view the images remotely and securely allowing to diagnose the problem a few minutes after the patient is scanned and report via email accordingly.

“The widespread use of mobile connectivity in healthcare could play a part in reducing the increasing burden of strained healthcare systems around the world,” said Gavin Krugel, Head of Health, GSMA. “The collaboration between Nawaloka Hospitals and Mobitel is a good example of the convergence between mobile and healthcare leading to an extension in reach and improvement in quality of healthcare delivery.”

Earlier radiographers used to take MRI and CT scans on film in order to manually send the images to the medical consultants or radiologists, which consumed a lot of time and efforts on transportation and viewing. With Mobitel’s mHealth platform, communication of medical imagery has now become convenient overcoming the physical and time barriers associated with traditional film based image retrieval, distribution and display. For example; a scan while being done at Nawaloka Hospitals can be captured near real time by radiologists / physicians from their residences or wherever in Sri Lanka even on the move or for that matter from anywhere in the world through a security password through internet. With this innovation radiologists need not visit the hospital to collect hard copies or scanned films anymore to view and report.

“We are honoured to have partnered with Nawaloka Hospitals, having many firsts to their credit in private health care industry in Sri Lanka to innovate the medical reporting process. As the national mobile telecommunication service provider positioned around ‘We Care. Always.’, we believe that our values augur well for Nawaloka Hospitals who has set out their primary objective as ‘Healing with Feeling’, to bring about a truly caring service to Sri Lankans” said, Suren J. Amarasekera, CEO Mobitel. “The latest 3T MRI scanning technology complemented by Mobitel mHealth platform demonstrates the power of ICT in medical reporting, yet another first in Sri Lanka”.

Not only this latest MRI technology gives patients the best quality images but super fast reports while on the go powered by Mobitel’s mHealth Platform.