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Nobel Laureate Develops Low-Cost Health Care System for Bangladesh (cost is $2/year)

17 points by ph0rque 18y ago

CWuestefeld 18y ago
I'm glad they're improving their situation. But it can't work here. Are you going to be satisfied when your spouse or child is seriously ill, if you can only talk to a doctor by telephone, and no specialist ever even examines the patient?
- ph0rque 18y ago
  This service already exists here (in US, I assume), and is actually a prerequisite of sorts when scheduling an appointment: you have to call the nurse, explain your situation, and go from there. The catch is, you already have to have insurance to be able to do this (which costs much more than $2/year).
- smokey_the_bear 18y ago
  A lot of the time I just want to ask a question, or get a prescription for something obvious, and scheduling an appointment is overkill. Luckily, my sister in law is a doctor, so I can just instant message her. It's much more efficient.
felipe 18y ago
It is worth mentioning that Muhammad Yunus is not only a microcredit pioneer but also co-created Grameen Phone, the very first mass cell phone provider in Bangladesh. They implemented a very innovative business model to make cell phones accessible to the poor, by allowing the cell phone owner (a villager) to resell minutes to other people in that same village. What is interesting (and relevant for HN) is that the Grameen Phone experience demonstrates how access to technology empowers people exponentially: 1) The cell phone owner (villager) has a new source of income 2) The other villagers also increase their income, because now with access to crop information and market info, they can run their crops with less waste and negotiate a better price 3) Women is empowered because most of the phone owners are women (who are disenfranchised in that society)
- mhashim 18y ago
  Whats interesting about the model of selling minutes is that it is now used almost as a currency in some countries (specifically in african countries) where a cab driver will accept a transfer of minutes rather than money because he knows he can resell those minutes to someone else.
  - felipe 18y ago
    Exactly. Actually the site nextbillion.net did a case study a few years ago about this subject. I cannot find the exact link right now, but I am sure it's somewhere in the site :)
cwan 18y ago
This TED talk is pretty on point/inspirational as well on building sustainable and even world class healthcare in developing countries - http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ernest_madu_on_world_class_health_care.html http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ernest_madu_on_world_clas....

17 points by ph0rque 18y ago

I'm glad they're improving their situation. But it can't work here. Are you going to be satisfied when your spouse or child is seriously ill, if you can only talk to a doctor by telephone, and no specialist ever even examines the patient?

ph0rque 18y ago
This service already exists here (in US, I assume), and is actually a prerequisite of sorts when scheduling an appointment: you have to call the nurse, explain your situation, and go from there. The catch is, you already have to have insurance to be able to do this (which costs much more than $2/year).
smokey_the_bear 18y ago
A lot of the time I just want to ask a question, or get a prescription for something obvious, and scheduling an appointment is overkill. Luckily, my sister in law is a doctor, so I can just instant message her. It's much more efficient.

felipe 18y ago

It is worth mentioning that Muhammad Yunus is not only a microcredit pioneer but also co-created Grameen Phone, the very first mass cell phone provider in Bangladesh. They implemented a very innovative business model to make cell phones accessible to the poor, by allowing the cell phone owner (a villager) to resell minutes to other people in that same village. What is interesting (and relevant for HN) is that the Grameen Phone experience demonstrates how access to technology empowers people exponentially: 1) The cell phone owner (villager) has a new source of income 2) The other villagers also increase their income, because now with access to crop information and market info, they can run their crops with less waste and negotiate a better price 3) Women is empowered because most of the phone owners are women (who are disenfranchised in that society)

mhashim 18y ago
Whats interesting about the model of selling minutes is that it is now used almost as a currency in some countries (specifically in african countries) where a cab driver will accept a transfer of minutes rather than money because he knows he can resell those minutes to someone else.
- felipe 18y ago
  Exactly. Actually the site nextbillion.net did a case study a few years ago about this subject. I cannot find the exact link right now, but I am sure it's somewhere in the site :)

cwan 18y ago

This TED talk is pretty on point/inspirational as well on building sustainable and even world class healthcare in developing countries - http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ernest_madu_on_world_class_health_care.html http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ernest_madu_on_world_clas....