Medixus, a knowledge-sharing app that enables health care workers to connect and collaborate in real-time, has made a number of strides since they joined the Villgro Kenya portfolio.
The company, which has been offering health care facilities with free subscriptions to improve patient care during the pandemic, has offered health workers a platform to consult with doctors outside their specialty and an opportunity to upscale their medical knowledge.
The COVID-19 response grant they received from Villgro Kenya has enabled them to allow other cadres of health providers to benefit from the resources and connections on the platform. They have also been able to add additional features to enhance their product.
“Besides the funding we received, Dr. Sylvia Shitsama, the mentor assigned to us by Villgro Kenya, has been very instrumental in contributing to content on the platform and opening up her network to us. The diagnostic panels have also helped us hear from a wider point of view of experts. So much has opened up and enabled us to progress a lot faster,” said Dr. Jean Kyula, Director of Business Development at Medixus.
The platform which currently serves over 900 health workers recently partnered with Gertrude's Hospital, the most established pediatric hospital in Eastern and Central Africa, to improve pediatric care throughout the country.
The partnership with Gertrude's Hospital will leverage their expertise in order to provide all 47 counties in Kenya with quality pediatric care. After an initial pilot, this will be done through consultations on the Medixus platform with facilities that have been selected in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. This will help reduce the amount of time and finances patients spend traveling to receive treatment in Nairobi and will lead to improved quality of services at the point of care.
“The essence of the app is that you are able to take a specialty and take it closer to areas where it is scarce. Their specialty will help better patient care to remote areas of the country by providing access to better care faster,” Jean mentioned during an interview.
Mr. Onesmus Kamau, Head of E-Health at the Ministry of Health, validated the need for a wider reach of the product saying, “This needs to be a day-to-day tool for hard-to-reach counties, but also those within cities. This is really great, they can use this to consult an expert who is within a county or outside a county - even within a clinical team, peer-to-peer consultations is also important … this is a game-changer.”