mHealth: A New Initiative Taken by the KPK Government

The use of Information and Communication Technologies in health care is a recent move in world to have vigilant approach about all health facilities. Keeping in view the world wide advancements of mHealth, Pakistan is also trying to improve its health system with the help of latest technologies. The Government of KPK has already started working on many projects in collaboration with ICT, as KPK is one of the under developed province of Pakistan and many major diseases like cancer etc. are commonly found in the province.

In this regard, the govt. of KPK has established an Independent Monitoring Unit (IMU) in Health Department, whose major objective is to monitor all health facilities through latest smartphones, internet and dashboard. The IMU will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister KPK Mr. Pervez Khattak on 10th April, 2015.

Pakistan is a developing country with more than half of its population located in rural areas. These areas neither have sufficient health care facilities nor a strong infrastructure that can address the health needs of the people. The expansion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) around the globe has set up an unprecedented opportunity for delivery of healthcare facilities and infrastructure in these rural areas of Pakistan as well as in other developing countries. Mobile Health (mHealth)—the provision of health care services through mobile telephony—will revolutionize the way health care is delivered.