Japan prides itself on having the world's lowest birth mortality rates for women and infants, but a decline in facilities staffed with obstetricians and gynecologists, as well as the advancing age of first-time mothers here, has raised growing doubts about the future of that claim.
These concerns sparked entrepreneur Yhuko Ogata of Kagawa Prefecture, who commercialized Japan's first electronic medical record software for obstetricians and gynecologists, to seek ways to address this growing uncertainty through remote pregnancy monitoring.
Last year, Ogata commercialized Fetal Monitor iCTG, a platform that allows doctors to remotely check the condition of both mother and fetus via wireless devices that can be easily attached to the abdomen.