Africa Health Exhibition and Conference - Day one highlights
Innovation was the name of the game on day one of the Africa Health Exhibition and Conference.
The highlights of the day included the product reveal of a world-first smartphone based diagnostic hearing tool, and the showcasing of a system designed to streamline hospital admissions and another cloud-based solution that provides end-to-end care for cervical cancer sufferers.
World-first smartphone video-otoscope revealed live
The hearX Group, which provides affordable hearing health solutions via smartphone technology to people who traditionally do not have access to healthcare, announced the broadening of their product suite with the official reveal of the hearScope. This product, which consists of a mobile app and a pen-like otoscope, has greater accuracy than a traditional otoscope (the most common tool for diagnosing ear disease), combined with the capabilities of the mobile application.
This product will help to diagnose middle ear infection (otitis media), one of the leading causes of preventable hearing loss in the developing world. Globally, hearing loss associated with middle ear infections affects 33 out of 10 000 people. hearScope is a smart, user-friendly, mobile solution for accurate diagnosis of ear disease.
“We’re very excited about the hearScope, which is not only a device; it’s a solution taking hearing health to everyone, everywhere,” says Hermien Louw, project manager at the hearX Group.
The power of using a technology platform to improve the delivery of care in Africa
The Emerging Technologies in Cervical Cancer Screening (ETiCCS) solution, developed by Heidelberg University, using SAP’s technology platform. The solution identifies women at risk of cervical cancer and delivers end-to-end care, with information stored in the cloud, so data entry is simplified and data and test results are immediately available to medical professionals no matter where they are.
This solution is in line with SAP’s drive to support health care systems’ in transitioning to digital healthcare, aggregating patient data from multiple sources to provide single, accurate patient profile.
“The potential for cloud-based technology solutions such as SAP Cloud Platform to transform the healthcare profession is unprecedented. It is hugely inspiring to see how the combination of expert research, local knowledge and modern technology can make an immediate and invaluable impact on the welfare of our citizens,” says SAP Africa’s Managing Director: East Africa, Dr Gilbert Saggia.
SAP’s technology powers more than 50 healthcare providers across Africa, and nearly 8 000 globally. “We are using the global best practice learned from customers worldwide and adapting it to the African context. This puts the continent's healthcare industry in a great position to leapfrog some of the problems experienced by the more developed markets to fast-track the delivery of connected healthcare to African citizens,” says Charmaine Odendaal, Healthcare Practice Lead at SAP Africa.
Taking the pain out of hospital admissions and patient management
T-Systems utilised the event to promote their Hospital Information System, a comprehensive, end-to-end healthcare solution. T-Systems addresses the challenges facing healthcare by providing solutions that enable higher efficiency, safeguard revenue attrition and support an excellent patient experience.
The Hospital Information System supports these outcomes by providing hospitals with a single patient master index that simplifies the admission process and ensures that all patient cases are fully visible to caregivers. It requires only one completion of patient information, optimising the admission process and resulting in far less information being required on admission for a repeat visit.
The system allows for accurate billing with detailed industry standard coding by the time the patient is discharged, so that any disputes can be settled immediately between the patient and the healthcare funding scheme.
It also integrates seamlessly with the hospital retail pharmacy and dispensaries, enabling accurate dispensing in line with the patient’s clinical record and scripts. This helps hospitals to order materials based on required capacity without tying cash up in unnecessary stock.
The 7th annual Africa Health Exhibition & Congress 2017 is currently taking place from 7-9 June 2017 at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. More than 10,000 regional and international healthcare professionals and medical experts are expected to attend the event during the course of the three days.