Hi-tech healthcare on display

From now on, the ubiquitous mobile phone will be used for more than making a phone call, sending short messages, chatting, or just playing games. Future phones will help you improve your state of health by recording heart rhythm and monitoring blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol.

"Just use your left hand to hold the two side contacts and with two right fingers touch the bottom contact. This is how it works," Christopher Seow, a business development manager of Singapore-based Ephone International (S) said at a "Medical Fair" that has caught the attention of thousands of medical and healthcare professionals from 25 countries.

The three-day international conference at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok opened yesterday and will end tomorrow.

Ephone International's EPI Life is one of thousands of medical devices on display. It is the first mobile phone with integrated electrocardiogram (ECG) and health-monitoring functions. It is designed for people concerned about their well-being and health.

The device also offers a mobile health concierge service - with a virtual health depository system and direct access to health care professionals from any part of the world - 24 hours a day.

Panasonic's Hospi robot will serve as a nurse assistant and help hospital employees by delivering medications safely and accurately.

Multiple sensors inside the robot help navigate the lengthy hallways of a hospital and enable Hospi to avoid bumping into patients. It can get on and off lifts.

Hospi can also deliver drugs and food directly to patients. Hospital staff simply enter information on a map of the building they want the robot to move around in - and it's on its way.

Because of a rising demand for improved medical and healthcare products and services due to urbanisation, ageing populations and greater access to new medical technology and advancements, Thailand and other Asean countries continue to invest heavily in these sectors. They're expanding access to treatment, modernising their medical systems and infrastructure, and providing more advanced service to patients.

"This in turn opens up myriad opportunities across entire healthcare systems, particularly for suppliers of medical devices and equipment," Thai Medical Device Suppliers Association president Preecha Bhandtivej said.

Thailand's total imports of medical devices grew 11 per cent in 2009 according to Thai Customs Department statistics. Demand this year should also rise because of favourable political and economic conditions, and further growth of medical tourism.

Preecha said medical tourism demanded very sophisticated medical technology. It is well known that many hospitals in Thailand, especially private ones, are competing for bigger market share in this sector. This expansion is an incentive not merely to replenish existing hospital equipment and technology, but rather procure and obtain new and more modern devices.

Competition is driving hospitals to seek international accreditation, employ multilingual staff, and open exclusive wards for foreigners demanding the best medical equipment and highest level of medical expertise.

Some of the more in-demand medical equipment, devices and products are disposable or quick diagnostic test kits, neurosurgical and other surgical devices and accessories, dermatological treatment devices, non-invasive surgical devices, rehabilitation equipment and accessories, orthopaedic and implant devices, respiratory devices, oxygen therapy, and sophisticated technology for diagnosis and treatment cancer and hypertension.