Dutch health tech start-up MEDx Care has signed a partnership agreement with South African company Santerno Health and Wellness, to create a pilot programme with the aim of establishing the first digital hospital offering data-driven care to communities in emerging and developing countries.
MEDx Care is an e-health institution that brings together health and technology to establish solutions dedicated to making good healthcare accessible to the public. Its platform, the digital hospital, is a community-based platform that connects healthcare providers, healthcare seekers and families in an innovative environment and enables access, acquisition and payment of healthcare services.
"The module will enable consultation notes for health professionals and electronic archiving of records accessible to the responsible health professional and the patient," explains Patricia Monthe, founder and CEO of MEDx Care.
"It can be extended to other modules available in the MEDx end-to-end framework of care, on demand. The underlying idea behind the digital technology is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health facilities by enabling integrated healthcare as a personalised service."
She adds the institution is looking at running multiple small-scale pilots at a time in SA.
"Healthcare is riddled with high complexities and great challenges, which often place a heavy burden on the healthcare provider, the healthcare payer and the patient.
"At the moment, the two priority scenarios in discussion relate to the implementation of our 'medical care' module in the contexts of a clinical psychologist practice in Polokwane, and in the context of operating health screening campaigns with nurses either in Cape Town or Johannesburg. We are also in talks with the Western Cape's Department of Health, investigating possible scenarios for piloting in the Cape region."
Although there are no definite timelines, Monthe says the estimated kick off date is 1 October.
Speaking on behalf of Santerno Health and Wellness, Shongy Mahlo says this is the beginning of a great partnership. "We are excited about the partnership between Santerno and MEDx. Both organisations share the common belief that healthcare should and can be made both accessible and affordable."
As part of the preparation for the pilot plan, Monthe says she and her team visited public health facilities in townships and cities. "Some of these facilities used hardcopy files to archive patient history. These facilities faced delays in starting consultations, which in turn resulted in shorter consultations with doctors that were under great pressure.
"In a recent exchange with the management personnel of the Groote Schuur Hospital, it was realised primary care needs optimal operational standardisation, and more involvement and empowerment of nurses, to create opportunity for doctors to address the demand in secondary and tertiary care.
"As a company, we believe optimal standardisation is possible through digitalisation, which offers the possibility to evaluate, track and continuously improve."
Monthe highlights that the introduction of digitisation is not intended to substitute the place of the health professional, but to complement his function, by automating sections of the workflow that consistently do not require active engagement of the brain.
"Issues such as the uncertainty in follow-up prescriptions, when records can't be found and patients can't inform doctors of medication they have been under. The simple fact of digitalising health records would result in shorter and more accurate follow-up consultations, reducing re-admissions into treatment and enhancing the workload balance on doctors and nurses," she concludes.
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