10 Mar 2014

Mobile-health  (m-health) offers the convenience of remote interactions between patients and practitioners as well as the ability to monitor patients continually in a non-intrusive way.

Orange Botswana chief executive officer, Mr Phillippe Baudin said at the University of Botswana (UB) School of Medicine (SOM) and Orange Botswana m-learning launch on March 7. Mr Baudin said with the m-health, lives could be saved through timely patient diagnosis and treatment.

He added that it could also ensure remote monitoring of progress and treatment, as well as managing medication non-adherence issues specifically for cases such as HIV and other chronic conditions.

He also explained that Orange Botswana had supported UB SOM to develop a specialised data plan that would give students and lecturers access to medical resources while far from the UB library.

That, he said, was achieved by developing a data bundle that was limited to browse specific medical websites and all lecturers as well as grouping students within a closed user group to allow them to consult each other or their lecturers through mobile devices for free.

The programme also allowed instant communication between nurses working in clinics, who might be in remote areas and specialist doctors in major hospitals.

It was implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Botswana UPenn Partnership, to provide seamless and quick patient diagnosis through cell phone and tablets.

Orange Botswana, he said was committed to developing tangible benefits of using mobile technologies in the health sector and secure buy-in from the stakeholders for the benefit of Batswana. The initiative, he said was of a corporate social responsibility nature hence the specific development and discounted bundle.

“Given the case of Botswana where mobile penetration is more than 150 per cent, mobile technologies can be harnessed to supplement existing health structures to improve access to quality public health services for all,” he said.

Mr Baudin observed that to achieve this, Orange Botswana would have to collaborate with various partners in the health care industry, using their capabilities and experience to determine market.

Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI) programme director, Dr Oathokwa Nkomazana said wireless access provided by Orange Botswana complemented existing university infrastructure to provide seamless access to learning, teaching and clinical resources.

The m-learning initiative, she said, was a SOM initiative through which faculty, residents and students could receive a seven inch  Samsung tablet loaded with a robust collection of medical applications, research databases, various Botswana health care guidelines and protocols.

Dr Nkomazana stated that they have 280 tablets in circulation and was gradually distributing and also continuing to test their data package.

Each tablet comes with a data and closed user-group bundle that has been uniquely designed for SOM and highly subsidised by Orange Botswana.

Successful implementation of m-learning initiative, she said has required SOM to engage with and strengthen relationships with Orange Botswana and Botswana-Upenn Partnership respectively.

Further, she said they were grateful for the support of the American people through President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR).

She noted that in 2010, the US government’s PEPFAR awarded a five-year grant to dozen institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa to invest directly in medical education.

She also indicated that the grant, popularly known as MEPI, has made m-health launch and many other investments at UB SOM possible. ENDS