The fight against the deadly virus Ebola is still ongoing in Sierra Leone and asides the total number of life’s that has been lost, doctors combating the disease has had to opt for more strenuous ways of recording patient information either by word of the mouth or using pen and paper.
On the request of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Google and some technology has managed to develop an Ebola-Proof tablet which would be used in recording patients’ vital informations. About eight of the device has been distributed to health workers in Sierra Leone.
The tablet is waterproof to the highest industrial level and can be dunked in 0.5% of chlorine solution which kills the Ebola virus; but when the aforesaid amount of chlorine touches the hand or body it results in chemical burns. The sharp edges of the tablet has also been removed so that the protective clothing of doctors is not pierced and the device is enclosed in a polycarbonate body.
The device communicates with servers outside of high-risk zones which is the size of a postage stamp, allowing access to patients records easily. The tablet is easily charged wirelessly and quickly by being placed on a table. Some sources claim the tablet is based on the Sony Xperia tablet.
“Although cases are now tailing off, the information stored on the devices will help map symptom patterns and the open-source technology could be deployed for other disease outbreaks.
Hiccups are a very distinctive sign of Ebola but we haven’t known whether they were a good or bad sign. Collecting more
information increases our understanding of the disease which should increase our capacity to fight it.”
Ivan Gayton, Medical Sans Frontiers (MSF) Technology Adviser Said.
The Ebola-Proof tablet is expected to go beyond its uses for fighting this Ebola Epidemic, it can also be used to combat future disease outbreaks too.
Source: BBC
