Mobile phones offer medical solutions to the developing world

The journey of the mobile phone over the last twenty years has been incredible. It has gone from being used just for making calls and sending texts to a serious and sophisticated bit of kit.

So serious, says Professor Ramesh Raskar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Labs, that - with a few tweaks here and there - they could begin to replace expensive scientific and medical equipment.


He believes that there is a clear gulf in the medical facilities that are available in the developing and the developed world. He believes that mobile phone technology could bridge that gap, and he is not alone in his thinking.


In the last two years alone, Professor Ramesh Raskar says, the resolution of these devices has increased six fold, with some now boasting over 300 dots per inch (dpi). Equivalent to that found on high end scientific equipment.


He is currently working on a device called the Near Eye Tool for Refractive Assessment (Netra), a cheap clip-on gadget, which can be used to diagnose eye conditions such as nearsightedness and farsightedness.


"Look through it and it gives you your prescription," he said.


In California, Professor Aydogan Ozcan, assistant professor of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is working on a mobile replacement for the microscope.


There is a flurry of experimental technology taking a hold of engineers across the world. The power of the mobile platform offers such potential that this will just be the beginning.


"The cellphone holds huge promise," Professor Aydogan Ozcan said. "It has become like a Swiss-army knife".