05 Jul 2020

Five youth projects have received financial backing from Botswana Innovation Fund (BIF) following the fund’s third call for solutions to address COVID-19 pandemic challenges.

Two of the five youth companies that received funding shared their projects with the media on Saturday.

Doctors E-Consult director, Ms Loatile Nkala, said the company created an online platform aimed at addressing challenges relating to accessing medical facilities.

Ms Nkala highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the normal way of doing things.

To combat spread of the disease, she said, people were confined to their homes, making it difficult for them to access medical services.

Accessing social amenities became a challenge for some and this prompted the youth to tap into their ingenuity by coming up with ways of helping people cope with the situation.

Ms Nkala  said Doctors E-Consult was destined to establish itself as a leading medical provider.

“The evolving and technologically advancing world calls for young people to engage in projects that will emerge as long term solutions to challenges post COVID- 19,” Ms Nkala said.

She said prior to COVID -19, long queues at health facilities were a normal occurrence and therefore, Doctors E-Consult was an add on service.

“Health facilities are quite often congested, making it difficult and tedious for patients to receive medical service,” said Ms Nkala. She said introduction of the online system would bring doctors and patients closer. Patients would be able to access medical services in the comfort of their own home, without the pursuit of travelling and incurring more expenses.

“They will be using cellphones to consult their doctors. All they have to do is to register, get a unique lock in password and contact their doctors from wherever they are in the country,” she said, noting that the online service offered consultations and appointments with doctors, video consults and even uploaded prescriptions.

Ms Nkala said the company was working on engaging pharmacies and uploading them to their system.

“Our aim is to have all health care providers in our system and also cater for patients who are on medical aid,” she said.

The company website and application would be launched in eight weeks.

“We want to venture into the technological space as we are moving into the fourth industrial revolution. We will not compromise on quality and privacy of our clients is guaranteed. As we grow the company, we want to make sure that our online services are accessible to all. We will not compromise on issues of security. Our system will undergo trial periods before launching to ensure that it is secure and safe,” stated Ms Nkala.

For his part, First Aid Counselling chief executive officer, Mr Kesego Mosime, said they had noticed the increasing need for counselling services even prior to the outbreak of COVID- 19.

He said the situation became dire during a lockdown period.

He said the company would offer digital counselling platform.  “We will also establish a website loaded with educational and counselling content. Our clients are offered a self-help service,” he said.

Mr Mosime said the counselling service platforms would offer clients instant appointments with counsellors.

“Our services will be instant and convenient as they will be accessed online” he said.

He said the mobile application counselling platform would be ready for use in a month’s time and would be accessed through any mobile phone, adding that the company was engaged in a massive recruitment of qualified counsellors and psychologists.

Mr Mosime said clients would be required to subscribe to access services and there would be an opportunity to rate the services.

The company’s chief operations officer, Ms Shathiso Letsholo, said they would attend to among other challenges, stress and depression.  She said prior to establishing in 2019, the company conducted a mini survey, which showed that the community was in need of counselling services.

She said the study revealed that some people were not eager to share their concerns face to face and therefore an online platform would come handy.  

“We provide a platform that will educate on issues relating to mental health and even victims of violence who are shy to report what they are going through,” Ms Letsholo stated.

She assured confidentiality of their clients. Ends