A South African doctor has developed the SIMpill, a pill bottle that uses SMS to monitor how often pills are being taken and can send alerts to a patient's phone if they have missed a dose by mistake. Each time the cap is removed, a small cellular transmitter in the bottle sends a secure SMS to a central server, which stores information about the intervals in which the prescription should be administered. If something goes wrong with the dosage, the service sends a message to the patient's cell phone, alerting them of the discrepancy. Since many long-term infectious diseases become resistant to medication if they miss a dose, the SIMpill can make it easier to maintain a more structured regimen.

Technology Reminds Sick to Take Pills [AllAfrica via MedGadget]

Contact information for this author is not available.