There is no doubt that Remote Patient Monitoring is slowly emerging as a significant innovation in healthcare, allowing a continuous health tracking and management outside traditional clinical settings.
Generally across all East African Countries, the traditional healthcare systems have a lot of challenges. In some rural areas , there is a problem of bad roads, lack or unreliable electricity and shortage of well trained clinicians. All these combined make life extremely hard for people with chronic medical conditions who reside in these rural areas of East Africa. Even in urban areas, quality healthcare is a preserve of a few who have medical insurance or those without insurance but who have good incomes and can afford to pay expensive medical bills.
With the arrival of Clinitouch https://www.clinitouch.com from the UK in Uganda and Kenya, working in partnership with MobiKlinic https://mobiklinic.com , clinics, hospitals, medical insurance companies and Governments should expect improved patient outcomes, lower healthcare costs, enhanced access to clinicians and a better overall patient experience of many.
IN BRIEF, THESE ARE 5 EXAMPLES OF BENEFITS OF REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING
1. Risk of Disease Transmission: I recall during COVID 19 Pandemic, home based testing and monitoring for those who tested positive significantly helped reduce the risk of transmission.
2. Free Up Limited Hospital Resource : In Uganda, according to reports, its estimated that Doctor to Patient Ratio is 1:25000 whereas the ideal ratio would be 1:1000. This puts significant pressure on Doctors especially those who specialize in chronic conditions such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The congestion of patients that is ever present at Uganda Cancer Institute or at Uganda Heart Institute proves my point that Medical Staff working in these Institutions are overwhelmed.
With shortages of hospital staff and available beds, being able to remotely monitor patients at home frees up the limited resources for the most serious cases
3. Remote Patient Monitoring helps Clinicians access patient data resulting in accelerated diagnoses and facilitation of timely and faster treatment plan.
4. Reduces risk of rehospitalization and mortality among patients with chronic medical conditions.
5. Reduces healthcare expenses: Patients in some rural areas of East Africa endure long tiresome and expensive travels before accessing quality healthcare in major towns and cities. Therefore, Remote Patient Monitoring helps reduce unnecessary frequent travels resulting in reduction of hospital admissions.
I strongly encourage decision makers in hospitals, clinics, medical insurance companies and even Governments in Uganda and Kenya to embrace Clinitouch, an award winning remote patient monitoring technology which was innovated by a Group of British Doctors and is currently used at scale by the National Health Service in UK. Users of Clinitouch in Uganda and Kenya are assured of a High Return on Investment and a significant improvement in patient outcomes.
