IoT Based Patient Health Monitoring System: The Way Forward for Patient Health Monitoring in Nigeria

Abstract

Patient health monitoring is a process of observing vital signs of patients
with the aim of forecasting ailments to expunge them thus, preventing
acute complications. In many African countries Nigeria included, lack
of proper patient health monitoring has become a menace. Statistics
shows that more than 40% of adults in this region are estimated to have
manageable diseases like high blood pressure, heart diseases and
hypertension. Most of these patients have met with different disabilities
and in some cases untimely death due to lack of proper patient health
monitoring and insidious manual system of monitoring which is utilized
in this region. Nevertheless, there is need to proffer solution to this
problem to help in early detection, monitoring and treatments of these
diseases. In this paper, a system architecture for proper monitoring of
patient’s health using internet of things (IoT) as an approach is
presented. It involves reading real time data from sensors attached to
patients. This data is sent to a local device via communication channels
(Bluetooth/Wi-Fi technology) and then transmitted to the IoT server via
the internet using a gsm/gprs module thus allowing for quick medical
 access and response where necessary.