Today across the United Arab Emirates (UAE), mobile is used to provide more services than anyone could have anticipated only five short years ago.

From SMS alerts and mobile marketing, to QR codes and mobile banking platforms, mobile is now used for everything and to promote everything in the UAE.

But mobile’s growing role inside the realm of healthcare is perhaps most promising.

“Patients here no longer need to worry about their medication timings and expiry dates of medicines,” reads a local news report from the Khaleej Times. “A pharmacy chain will send SMS alerts on a regular basis.”

Dr Majdi Fahmi, director-general of Planet Pharmacies, said a large number of patients forget their medication timings and that, of course, has a negative impact on the efficiency of the drug.

haikSh Saqr bin Humaid Al Qasimi, Chairman of Planet Pharmacies, says it “is of great importance for a patient to take medicines on time; otherwise it may lead to counter reactions, or even decrease the full benefit of the medication.”

According to some industry analysts, by the end of this decade, nearly 90% of the world’s connected population will have access to SMS-based notifications related to their prescription medications.