Nilufer Hajra is a young writer who believes in the power of words and loves to read. She’s innovative and creative when it comes to writing. Like the others, she aims to be different and wants to reach the top but she will only do so with honesty and hard work. Being a bilingual of English and French, Nilufer has traveled to many countries and is currently based somewhere in Asia with her family, cats and a rooster.She can be contacted at niluferauladin@yahoo.com
Technology has been growing fast over the years and some of us may find it hard to believe that there are still places in the world that have been left untouched or unaffected by technology. Most of these places form part of the ‘Third World’ countries, a term used to describe non-developing countries since the Cold War. Though the term, ‘Third World’ countries, is not used anymore, technology in these countries is not as appealing as to the rest of the world where it plays a big part in people’s lives from morning to evening.
Even though, people living in undeveloped countries don’t really know what modern technology or gadgets mean, they do know however that medicine forms a big part of their technology. People living in the ‘Third World’ countries desperately need technology not for social networking but to be and stay healthy.
‘Third World’, undeveloped and developing countries struggle to provide the best healthcare to their respective people. While Africa and Afghanistan would come to mind when speaking of undeveloped and poor countries, there are several developing countries such as India, China and Malaysia that are still struggling to provide the best medical facility to their people.
Check-Ups
In countries such as Malaysia and India where there are abundant of doctors and medical specialists, medical check-ups don’t come cheap. Moreover, there are still many places in these particular countries that are deprived of medical services. Nevertheless, there are organizations that are ready to take this step and make everyone receive the medical services that they need.
In India, technology has deeply helped both doctors and the patients. Renowned news channel, CNN, recently showcased a documentary on India’s medical facilities to show how technology has immensely helped reach the underprivileged patients there. On top of the list; a doctor is able to consult his patient via satellite, a facility not widely practiced over the world. Telemedicine, as it is called, is practical, safe and not expensive. With telemedicine, the patients and their doctors don’t have to be in the same room for the treatment, monitoring and examination to happen. This is basically to facilitate the patient who at times, cannot be treated by his local doctor and instead of being sent to a city doctor, telemedicine makes the patient’s life easier.
The less fortunate countries such as Afghanistan & Africa will have difficulties implementing the telemedicine in their system as technology is very slowly evolving in these countries.
Medical Treatments
While Americans are struggling to come to terms with the new healthcare policy set by President Obama, majority of people in the ‘Third World’ countries would give their right hands for a good medical treatment. Awareness of the underprivileged has been constantly brought to light by celebrities but these under-developed nations are still in the lurch due to insufficient medical expertise.
Meanwhile in developing countries, technology has been used in good ways to make medical facilities available to many. In South-East Asia, several nations work together to provide the best medical care for their people. Malaysia & Singapore work together to provide the best healthcare for their people. In Malaysia, there are several hospitals with advance equipments that cater to critical-state patients. Patients from Singapore are at times referred back to Malaysian hospitals for treatment and Singapore itself serves as an advanced technology lab for several Malaysian hospitals.
Affordable Treatments
The high-class treatment and advanced technology in Asian hospitals has made several Asian countries as the perfect choice for tourists when it comes to medical facilities. Patients from the ‘First & Second World’ nations opt to undergo their medical treatment in developed countries such as India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines due to the cheaper medical costs in these countries.
In ‘First & Second World’ countries, there should be no lack of advanced technology equipments in their hospitals but the costs of treatment there are, without a doubt, higher and more expensive than in developing countries.
Technology in Third World Countries
Technology in medicine is slowly evolving in these countries. In the future, advanced equipments will be available in a lot more hospitals in developing countries to enable more and more people to be treated easily and at a cheaper cost. For underdeveloped nations, doctors and several organizations are working hard to make medical facilities and treatments easily reachable to the underprivileged people. The wait for advanced medical equipments to reach the underdeveloped countries is even longer due to the fact that some of these nations are badly damaged with no government to lead these nations and its people.
Amazing but so true your statement "In countries such as Malaysia and India where there are abundant of doctors and medical specialists, medical check-ups don’t come cheap." I wonder what has happened to our humanity? Personally I think corruption and greed are the catalyst to all of these fundamental rights we have as humans. I personally believe in social health care. But I have also seen how slow and corrupt that process is in my country (Italy) so I can only imagine what it's like in the "third world countries". Thanks so much for sharing this post with me Nil
I will make sure to pass it around.
Technology in other parts of the world is definitely changing. Although the pace is slower than most modern countries, it is steady.