Using cell phones in hospitals can be dangerous

[LahoreEstate]

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Islamabad

Using cellular phones near hospital beds and critical care medical equipment can lead to electromagnetic interference.

Critical care equipment is vulnerable to electromagnetic interference posed by new age cellular phones. It can disrupt pacemakers, switch off ventilators and cause a lot of problems, Health news reported.

Other malfunctions attributed to electromagnetic interference include complete stops with no alarms in syringe pumps and incorrect pulsing by an external pacemaker.

To assess the potential danger of using mobile phones in hospitals, Dutch researchers at the University of Amsterdam recorded nearly 50 incidents of electromagnetic interference from cell phone use in hospitals and classified 75 per cent of them as significant or hazardous.

On testing 61 different medical devices, it was found that most of the incidents stemmed from the latest General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) signal, a new-generation technology that also allows wireless Internet access.

http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=162791