EASTERN CAPE - MOBILE HEALTH CONNECTIVITY TO BOOST HEALTH CARE IN THE EASTERN CAPE

Mobile health connectivity is set to give health care in the Eastern Cape and other rural provinces a boost as Vodacom Business deploys ICT connectivity technology to the province’s remote areas.

This was revealed at the MEC’s Healthcare Summit and Excellence Awards held at the East London International Convention Centre on Thursday and Friday.

At the summit Vodacom Business chief officer Vuyani Jarana said the company’s innovative mobile health (M-Health) solutions would enhance health care for people living in the Eastern Cape.

M-Health solutions such as Sense4Babies could reduce infant mortality in the province through remote prenatal care that keeps health professionals abreast of progress and any complications experienced by expectant mothers and respond quickly, Jarana said.

“As Vodacom we see the need to join the fight and improve maternal and child mortality rates in the province that stood at 148.3 deaths per 100000 lives. In most cases these deaths could have been prevented by efficient prenatal monitoring in cases of high risk pregnancies” he said.

Jarana said improving healthcare, especially in rural provinces, could not be complete without ICT connectivity.

“For example, connectivity enables healthcare workers to do stocktaking remotely and respond appropriately. ICT connectivity is crucial in the healthcare value chain,” he said.

“Nationally we have rolled out stock visibility programmes to more than 2190 clinics out of 3500. Our intention is to roll out across the country by July 2016.”

Jarana said this would ensure the country and province could provide primary health care at a more affordable rate to more citizens using mobile phones, apps and devices powered by Vodacom’s fixed and mobile infrastructure.

Jarana said the use of technology by healthcare professionals was still fairly limited in the province.

“By building an ecosystem of healthcare innovators we can support applications and devices that can help reduce the strain on doctors and nurses. We are giving them tools, not only to screen for health issue but also the means to share data with other practitioners, to store the data from the screening and to build health records,” Jarana said.

Eastern Cape health MEC Dr Pumza Dyantyi said social determinants of health also related to matters outside the direct scope and control of the department of health.

“They can be water, sanitation, energy, communication, transport and infrastructure,” Dyantyi said.

“The mobile-led telecommunications evolution has resulted in what is viewed as the fourth industrial revolution, which manifests itself in increased digitisation of the economy.

“In the early ’90s the concept of telemedicine, including teleradiology, were largely punted as an answer to Africa’s health challenges of rurally distributed health care institutions with a shortage of doctors. This summit thus gives space for discussions and demonstrations of eHealth and m-Health innovations.”

Other mobile health solutions made available by Vodacom Business include connected health solutions which help community healthcare workers capture patient information seamlessly with an android application and these are already being rolled out in clinics across the country.

Based on a centralised mobile and cloud environment, Vodacom’s m-Health services allow healthcare or technology providers to help improve their access to patients. This is done through secure, real-time data collection, information processing, management and reporting.

Vodacom Business together with Mezzanine have already successfully developed a mobile-based stock visibility solution available to dispensing facilities to capture stock levels on a daily basis, Jarana said.

“The information synchronises in real time to a cloud-hosted server that automates alerts and reports for the benefit of various levels of supply chain management. This ensures that the healthcare facilities have access to medicine where it is needed, when it is needed.

“Our job is to continue to work with the government partners and health experts to develop relevant and innovative solutions that will meet the country’s growing need for quality healthcare services,” Jarana said.

VIA - thenewage.co.za