Digital health solutions key to solving primary healthcare challenges – Experts
With a deficit of 2.4 million nurses and doctors on the continent, digital health solutions remain key in solving Africa’s primary healthcare challenges, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder of mPharma, Gregory Rockson, has said.
mPharma is a technologydriven healthcare company that partners with major pharmaceutical manufacturers, insurance companies, financial institutions and governments to deliver medicines directly into the hands of consumers in underserved markets. It also offers solutions to health insurance and pharmaceutical companies to make it easier for patients to afford their medications.
As part of effort to improve access to affordable healthcare, TytoCare solution has been integrated into mPharma’s telehealth offerings to enable pharmacies to provide patients with enhanced remote care through in-depth physical examination.
TytoCare is a telehealth company using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to transform primary care by putting health in the hands of consumers.
It seamlessly connects people to clinicians to provide the best virtual home examination and diagnosis solutions. Its solutions are designed to enable a comprehensive medical examination from any location and include a hand-held, all-in-one tool for examining the heart, lungs, skin, ears, throat, abdomen and body temperature; a complete telehealth platform for sharing exam data, conducting live video exams and scheduling visits, among others.
Rockson maintained that mPharma’s partnership with TytoCare helped bridge the gap in the primary healthcare space in Africa.
He said, “We have seamlessly implemented our virtual doctor consultation programme, mutti doctor, recording over 8,000 consultations across our partner mutti pharmacies since we launched last year. mPharma’s vision is to make affordable healthcare accessible to every African, with our primary care strategy focused on ensuring that community pharmacies become primary healthcare providers. Our TytoCare partnership allows us to leverage modern technology to offer life-saving care to hard-to-reach areas and people who need it most.”
The CEO and Co-Founder of TytoCare, Dedi Gilad, maintained that the partnership with mPharma offered patients a robust, accessible and affordable primary care experience through local pharmacies.
He said, “mPharma is reshaping healthcare in Africa.”
Rockson disclosed further that the company’s intervention was geared towards addressing the issues of affordability and access to prescription drugs caused by excessive margins charged by the stakeholders along the drug supply chain.
A former President of Ghana, John Dramani, commended mPharma for promoting good health for all Africans, while urging the company to keep pushing for technology-based, patientcentered and community-focused approaches that could meet the needs of patients irrespective of their location or financial status.