The Evolution of GSM Technologies into 5G and the Imminent Emergence of Transformative Telemedicine Applications: A Review

Abstract

Telemedicine is the delivery of health care services over a distance by health care providers using electronic technologies for the diagnosis, information exchange, treatment and disease prevention, injuries prevention, research and evaluation, and for continuing education for the health care provider. Telemedicine has been in existence since the 1960s, through telephone and video technologies. Over several decades, wireless broadband technology has become better with advancement with internet speed becoming almost ubiquitous. According to a telemedicine study by World Health Organization, 114 countries, that is, (59%) of member states, revealed that teleradiology has the highest rate of established service provision globally at (33%).  Close to 70% of the countries indicated the need to know the cost and cost-effectiveness of telemedicine solutions, and above 50% needed to know about the infrastructure needed for telemedicine implementation while 60% needed clarification on clinical uses. With the evolution of Global System for Mobile (GSM) Communication services into 5G, it is the objective of this study to demonstrate how a combination of faster communication at lower latencies can be used to provide clinical support that overcomes geographical barriers using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), with a goal of transforming healthcare service provision. A resultant prototype telemedicine application capable of medical diagnosis using artificial intelligence techniques demonstrates with the highest accuracy at 93.68% match. The medical similarity index of pathogens is captured from digital sources such as USB microscopes and scanners as medical images or specimens.