RISING TO A NEW CHALLENGE
Other ways of delivering healthcare closer to the patient include recently launched telehealth and homecare services, capabilities which have proven invaluable this year amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Like many businesses, EHA Clinics was forced to adapt quickly. In rapid time the firm established dedicated clinics and COVID-19 diagnostics labs in two Nigerian cities, sites which are able to provide a test result within 24 hours, helping to plug the gap in testing capacity which has hampered the country’s efforts to trace the progress of the virus.
“We also faced a challenge in patient confidence about receiving treatment not just for coronavirus, but other health issues,” Thompson adds. “In March the number of people visiting us dropped to about 30 percent of what we would usually see in many facilities. There was some hesitancy among both patients and medical staff about coming into clinics in the early stages when we didn’t know too much about the virus.
“However, we got our team together and focused very quickly in order to respond to the emergency, and by April our numbers had recovered as we had reassured them it was safe to visit us.
Further, we have been treating people with mild COVID-19 symptoms at home through our homecare service, as well as more serious cases on-site.”
The extraordinary circumstances created by the pandemic has highlighted the paramount importance of a robust training and development programme, the CEO quick to highlight how critical this has been in not only adapting to the ‘new normal’, but more generally in the development of eHealth Africa and EHA Clinics into what it is today.
“Across all of our activities, we rely on close relationships with our suppliers and partners”
Part of the group’s Chief Innovation Officer’s remit is to identify gaps in knowledge and help develop learning goals for various teams across the organisation, goals which fall in line with plans for growth.
“A good example of this in action has been our training programme on ultrasound,” Thompson says.
“We are at the forefront in terms of using ultrasound as a point of care diagnostic tool, which has involved taking a lot of learnings from how it is done in the US to here in Nigeria.
“We wanted to jump on that and get ahead of the curve, so we’re able to swap a stethoscope for an ultrasound probe that can instantly provide a lot more detailed information on breathing, lung functions, heart functions, internal bleeding, and a whole host of other things.
“This is just one of many programmes tailored towards staff groups, all of which are tracked on an internal platform.”
The CEO also points to the critical role played by international and local partners in delivering training to eHealth Africa and EHA Clinics’ employees, be they NGOs or multinational corporations.
“Across all of our activities, we rely on close relationships with our suppliers and partners,” Thompson continues. “Whether it’s helping us to troubleshoot issues, supplying equipment or even helping our teams with research, we have a number of vital collaborations.”
Indeed, such collaboration will be crucial in the months and years ahead as Nigeria continues to tackle the health and socioeconomic challenges caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
In the immediate term, overcoming the barriers presented by the crisis is the priority for Thompson, who is determined to contribute as much as he can to the nation’s ongoing effort to contain the virus before returning to something closer to business as usual.
He concludes optimistically: “We have certainly been challenged by COVID-19 this year, but we are confident about the future. It is a lot more difficult right now to access capital, and that is what we need to enable our growth to continue.
“However, I’m proud of how we have responded and feel fortunate that we have been able to create new services and replace some of our lost income during this time. The key for the whole sector is to get investors back into Nigeria and supporting some of the great startups that are here.”