Tens of thousands of Kazakh
citizens can now receive heart diagnostics remotely. More than 100 clinics in
the country, half of which are rural, have implemented a unique Smart ECG platform
enabling residents of remote residential areas with cardiovascular diseases to
promptly obtain a medical report online directly to their mobile phone or
email.
“We have been using the smart
program for six months. It is very convenient as all electrocardiograms taken remotely
are uploaded straight to the program. Then I make an ECG interpretation and a report,
which is immediately sent to the email address. The nurses work remotely from
districts in rural areas. Overall, smart ECG enables us to make a prompt diagnosis
and refer a patient to the hospital if necessary,” said functional diagnostics
doctor Saltanat Autalipova.
As repeatedly noted by doctors,
early diagnosis is the basis of a long life without endangering health. Heart
diseases are the main cause of mortality among the population in Kazakhstan,
and worldwide. The new digital solution of Kazakh developers makes it possible
not only to make ECG diagnostics accessible, but also more qualitative.
“Different manufacturers of ECG machines,
including American and Chinese ones, install this software. The ECG machine is
connected to the computer by the unique driver that has been developed and
installed on the computer. Then the ECG signal is displayed on the computer
monitor, processed by artificial intelligence, and transmitted to the doctor’s personal
account for reading,” noted project manager Aidar Saparov.
The project was funded and
launched with the support of the Science Fund. Since 2021, the Smart ECG platform
developers have traveled to over 250 rural residential areas. During this time,
specialists have decoded tens of thousands of electrocardiograms remotely. Work
on the introduction of the domestic development into the healthcare system will
continue, the project authors note.
