100 clinics in Kazakhstan introduce smart ECG platform

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.