The CEO of Food and Drugs Authority, Mad Mimi Darko in a discussion with Rite FM Morning Show host, Austin Ofori Addo on the Morning Ride has stated that due to numerous fake products in the market, the medical mobile application created is to help the public in terms of health.
According to her, due to the reactions people get after using most medical products, triggered them to create the medical mobile application to help individuals report the products, so the FDA can investigate and track down the producer. “Therefore, we are pleading with the general public to download the application to make our work easy”, she added.
The widespread adoption and use of mobile technologies is opening new and innovative ways to improve health and health care delivery.
Mobile applications (apps) can help people manage their own health and wellness, promote healthy living, and gain access to useful information when and where they need it. These tools are being adopted almost as quickly as they can be developed.
According to industry estimates, 500 million smartphone users worldwide will be using a health care application by 2015, and by 2018, 50 percent of the more than 3.4 billion smartphone and tablet users will have downloaded mobile health applications.
These users include health care professionals, consumers, and patients.
The FDA encourages the development of mobile medical apps that improve health care and provide consumers and health care professionals with valuable health information.
The FDA also has a public health responsibility to oversee the safety and effectiveness of medical devices – including mobile medical apps.
The FDA issued the Mobile Medical Applications Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff on September 25, 2013, which explains the agency’s oversight of mobile medical apps as devices and our focus only on the apps that present a greater risk to patients if they don’t work as intended and on apps that cause smartphones or other mobile platforms to impact the functionality or performance of traditional medical devices.
For many mobile apps that meet the regulatory definition of a “device” but pose minimal risk to patients and consumers, the FDA will exercise enforcement discretions and will not expect manufacturers to submit premarket review applications or to register and list their apps with the FDA.
This includes mobile medical apps that:
• Help patients/users self-manage their disease or condition without providing specific treatment suggestions;
• Provide patients with simple tools to organize and track their health information;
