We all keep hearing how technology has revolutionized most of the industries around the world including the huge Healthcare industry. It has changed the operation and management of medicine including surgery, cardiology, cancer diagnosis but it hasn’t entered into primary care. The most common equipment general practitioners and medical doctors use even today are stethoscope, blood pressure apparatus and perhaps an otoscope. In fact, the most advanced piece of technology in a GP’s office may be a smartphone. These missing technological advantages in clinics make a difference in the healthcare industry. So it is time to bring technological breakthrough into primary healthcare.

The concentration of general practitioners in rural areas is very less as compared to urban areas. In rural areas, it is approximately 1 GP on average for every 7500 patients and as small as 1 for every 25,000 people in more remote areas. This issue can be resolved by using technological connectivity. Using the remote diagnostics model through telemedicine and virtual communication, physicians can easily mend the difference. For example, A single doctor in Nairobi is simultaneously monitoring multiple consultations. Using HealthCube technology, established in India, a nurse at each clinic is able to perform diagnostics on more than 50 parameters based on her instructions.

We have an opportunity to solve the issue of non-existent rural healthcare simultaneously, and the economy of GPs through digital health. This does not mean that a machine can replace a doctor. It may actually remove some of the more routine and mundane tasks a doctor will be spending time on and allowing them to concentrate more on the health and care of many patients simultaneously. This facility can only be arranged if there is a technological breakthrough in primary healthcare