Murang’a County Government will roll out telemedicine services between now and September 2019. This shall revolutionize the delivery of health services via technology. The service shall be piloted in 44 selected health facilities using available Internet infrastructure to diagnose and treat patients from a distance.
Telemedicine allows treatment to be carried out right from the comfort of patients’ homes, hence avoiding the hassle involved therein and has, therefore, made access to health care much easier. It is really useful for management of noncommunicable and chronic diseases as patients can access contact with specialized doctors and consult them virtually.
Speaking at a telemedicine conference, Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the introduction of the new service will ensure that Murang’a hospitals, with its levels of 4 and 5, are not congested. Under the pilot program, each sub-county ward is anticipated to last six months for links to the telemedicine program through one of its health facilities. Other targets under the innovation include continuous training of the medical workers and sensitizing members of the public so that the information regarding the new technology should be widely known and used.
He said that all 160 health facilities in Murang’a are now fully automated, therefore more efficient and accessible by patients. It further reiterated that the county is using solar energy in health facilities to avoid the interruption of services at health facilities as a barrier to care due to power blackouts.
The telemedicine initiative is part of a broad package for the modernization of health services in Murang’a and includes introducing drones for medical deliveries, mobile applications for e-consultations, and the latest medical equipment such as e-theaters and dialysis machines. During the conference, donors offered 200 glucometers and 50 digital tablets to support the activity.
Already, the automation has seen a county like Murang’a Level 5 hospital monthly revenue rise from Sh1.6 million to Sh6 million. Maragua Level 4 hospital’s automation has also increased the daily uptake from Sh60,000 to Sh200,000, with all the revenue set to re-channel the services.
The telemedicine initiative is a county government initiative in collaboration with several partners, key among them being BYON8 Company and Healthx Africa. These partners are experts in linking patients to the use of telemedicine, which is a technology that is largely applied in private healthcare and in developed countries. Murang’a will be the very first county in Kenya to implement telemedicine services in public health facilities; it implies significant strides toward decentralized and digital healthcare.