| This week E-Health Europe reports on renewed efforts to introduce a pan-European common emergency phone number, that citizens from countries across the continent can use to contact emergency services. While ostensibly a good idea, the fact that the 112 number was first introduced in 1991, yet only 22% of Europeans are aware of it, suggests there is only a limited demand for the service. Compare this to the near 100% awareness a poll of national emergency numbers in individual countries would get.
That it has taken 17-years to get this far should also serve as a reminder of just how difficult it is to introduce even fairly simple pan-European technology supported services, unless there is a clear demand for them. For the use of the 112 emergency number the scenario most often cited is of someone on holiday needing to make contact with emergency services. Is 112 currently a service in search of a demand?
In other news this week we report from Germany where health insurer AOK has launched a new website to make comparisons of different medications easier. We also report on the launch of a digital pen by Sweden's Anoto that connects to BlackBerry devices enabling the digital capture of medical notes as they are written. |
