Chuks Melville Chibundu is the Chief Executive Officer of Springville Consulting, the heath technology that recently introduced the first ever Health ATM in Nigeria- a machine that takes most of your primary care reading and connect you with a doctor over video chat. He spoke with VICTOR OKEKE on the healthcare gaps the technology fills.
What is your involvement in healthcare technology services?
Springville consulting is a solutions oriented group, with strategic focus on enhancing efficiency and quality of life through innovative technology driven solutions in health, hospitality and business operations within the Nigerian socio-economic landscape. Globally the current trend is to drive sustainable development and efficiency in all facets of human endeavor through innovative technology. Solutions that are created by these technologies assure better quality of life especially in healthcare. Africa falls short of all WHO (World Health Organization) standard parameters for basic existence. Therefore, the need to focus urgently on our health sector by drawing on the benefits of technology to deliver quality healthcare to our people.
To achieve the technology advantage, we have reached out to global health technology partners with appropriate solutions that can readily be applied within our clime to tackle most of the current healthcare challenges being faced. Our healthcare solutions strike at the core of our challenges, such as access, quality of delivery, data management, and accurate diagnosis. Governments positive policy efforts in healthcare should be supported by all to ensure access to quality healthcare is guaranteed for all in Nigeria. We are therefore passionate about achieving that goal through technology.
The Yolo Health ATM is now in Nigeria, courtesy of your partnership, what is it really about?
The Yolo Health ATM is an integrated diagnostic solution designed to provide quick, affordable and accurate diagnostic care to Nigerians who hitherto experience difficulties in accessing basic health care for no fault of theirs. The Yolo Health ATM operates on three levels, it functions as a Diagnostic Machine: to give accurate information on patient vitals, a Doctor Live Consultation platform and a Patient Electronic Medical Record. This essentially means that with our integrated machine a patient can run her basic vitals and get immediate results and also have a deeper level of health probe such as blood test for diseases such as Malaria, Dengue Fever, Typhoid, HIV 1&2, Lipids and blood glucose analysis. Patients with the help of a trained technician can also run urine analysis, pregnancy test, ECG, skin and basic ENT observation.
What problems in the Nigerian Health sector can this new health technology address?
The healthcare challenges in Africa, and in particular Nigeria, are daunting. Effective primary and Rural healthcare delivery is still a major work in progress in Nigeria. The context of healthcare delivery in Nigeria is complex. Current challenges range from, physical access to quality healthcare at our facilities, poor health infrastructure, financial capacity to support treatment, inadequate medical professionals to teeming patients, poor data management, and disease monitoring, increasing prevalence of lifestyle diseases, high cost of diagnosis. Information Technology is currently a primary enabler to providing solutions to these challenges as well as provide economic opportunities. Our solution as earlier mentioned is critical to solving the challenges of rural and urban healthcare challenges in Africa including Nigeria.
“YOLO” stands for “you only live once,” today’s trendy way of telling people to “seize the day.” When applied to healthcare, it takes on a more sobering meaning. As of last year, Nigeria has one doctor for every 5,000 patients contrary to the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation of one doctor to a population of 600.
Also, the prevalence of lifestyle diseases in the country – conditions like diabetes or hypertension that require close monitoring from a physician – is also rising. The type of monitoring required often involves looking at blood readings and other preventative measures carried out by a primary care physician.
The Yolo Health machine is designed to tackle most importantly the continuous shortage of Doctors in hospitals by providing an avenue for live consultation where patients in remote locations within the country can share their health challenges with doctors not physically present through a high definition video feed. This access assures patients of quality medical assessment and treatment and reduces quackery in the profession, it also helps to provide quick assessment of health situation on ground in terms of epidemics and most importantly provides access to Medical health records of citizens in remote areas thereby allowing the Health authorities have records of citizens for policy decisions and timely interventions.
Does the ATM work in hospitals or does it work as stand-alone device? Does it remove the need to see a doctor?
Yes the ATM works anywhere as long as there is a power source and basic internet connection. They can be stationed in OPD wards and maternal and child health care departments, this will ensure quicker services to patients and reduce congestion of waiting rooms. The machine can also be situated outside the hospital environment, but we usually advise that in such situations a qualified attendant be employed to man it and the machine use limited to basic vitals diagnosis only. It certainly cannot replace the need to see a physician which is also facilitated by the machine via a live video consultation which the Doctor can take from any location in or outside the hospital.
In the face of poor internet access and electricity supply, how sustainable is this technology in Nigeria?
The design of the solution took into consideration the peculiarity of support infrastructure like good internet and power. The solution can be calibrated to allow data feed for low bandwidths of internet, which is common in rural areas. The Machine also can be configured to be supported by Solar power in areas where power supply is poor or unavailable. However as standard the machine comes with a UPS that support power failure for up to 30 mins to allow conclusion of ongoing tests. A key feature of the solution is the capacity to take on offline test and diagnosis, and stores results to be forwarded to a doctor for assessment and treatment later if connectivity is immediately not available. The process is tagged “Store and Forward”. The Doctor’s response and prescription done the same way.
What is the drive behind this noble project?
Our goal is to catalyse healthcare delivery through affordable, appropriate and cost-effective technologies that supports government’s policy efforts in enhancing quality healthcare delivery in Nigeria. Healthcare especially at the primary level is critical as it supports the fabric of the socio-economic wellbeing of the entire nation. Our health index is a pointer to our capacity to achieve our development aspirations as a nation. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation, so it is said. If we don’t provide basic health care to those who are in the majority that form the productive core of our workforce, it is no gainsaying that our growth as a nation will continue to stay stunted.
How can we create access to and encourage utilization of this technology?
The benefits of our technology are far-reaching and very obvious as it seeks to address fundamentals of our healthcare challenges. We call on governmental and non-governmental stakeholders to partner with us in making this technology available for interventions that it is urgently needed. The federal and state governments should work with us to urgently deploy this technology to support our Primary Health Centres (PHCs) across the federation. This can be done in phases. Non-governmental agencies, like the major foundations are encouraged to support government through the creation and funding of health intervention projects in the rural communities using our technology. Development and special purpose banks are encouraged to provide funding support to state and local governments to invest in health by deploying our technology. Equally the private sector through various CSR initiatives can avail their immediate communities with our health technology to enhance quality of life even to their workforce.
The solution has universal applicability for both private and public sector use. Companies, Hospitals, Health Clubs, Health focused NGO’s, Federal, State and Local governments, Agencies of government etc. Health is common denominator for all and so we encourage institutions, especially government to take advantage of the immense benefits of Yolo health ATM and activate a sustainable process of quality and affordable healthcare delivery for its citizens.
