Dial Up Good Health

No it's not "Star Trek" or the future, but soon we may be able to better monitor our health by phone.

"Within the next year, medical technology will allow you to check your pulse on your smart phone and send an ambulance to your location, if need be. Designed by a cell phone expert in Singapore, the new Epi Life phones are equipped with their own mini electrocardiogram device. Pressing a finger on a built in receptor sends your pulse to a medical call center. If necessary, the call center will send a message that an ambulance is on its way. "we think it's a revolution," says EPI medical chief Dr. Chow U-Jin. "Anywhere in the world, you can use it as a phone, but you can also transfer an EKG and get a result." The Life phone cost about $700 and 2,000 are currently on the market in Singapore. The technology will be available in the U.S. soon."

(Sun)