It’s a well known fact that most patients suffering from a cardiac arrest are bought in when it’s too late. Such an inevitable scenario in a traffic-clogged city like Mumbai could mean catastrophe for patients suffering from even mild heart attacks. However, mobile technology-savvy Indians are known to find the smartest way around typical problems, especially those concerning life. Doctors from Mumbai’s reputed KEM hospital have turned to the obvious choice to help them deal with immediate diagnosis in the face of critical timelines to act and unceasing hurdles that the city presents – WhatsApp! The free mobile application enables doctors to not only chat with other doctors but also send across photographs of ECG reading. This helps immediate understanding of the severity of the situation and helps action necessary measures for treatment. It works quite well with the WhatsApp group messaging module. A doctor designated as a ‘chest pain registrar’ simply clicks on a photograph of the ECG and puts it up on the cardiology department’s WhatsApp group, ‘ACS Care’. And voila, there’s a cure on the way already.

“The moment a patient walks in here complaining of chest pain or any other related problem, a specialist takes out an ECG and sends the image to the doctors on hand,” said Dr Prafulla Kerkar, head of KEM’s cardiology department. “We, in fact, have a WhatsApp group where the experts in our department are signed in.” Up to 250 patients have benefitted from this reporting system.

[Via – Mumbai-Mirror]