As part of efforts towards making medications affordable and accessible in Africa, TytoCare has announced its partnership with mPharma, a technology-driven healthcare company building Africa’s largest health management organisation.
A statement issued by the companies on Wednesday, indicates that the partnership involves the integration of the TytoCare solution into mPharma’s telehealth offerings which enables pharmacies to provide patients with enhanced remote care through in-depth, physical examinations.
Both companies said the partnership will improve health care services to patients in Africa.
It said the partnership was rolled out in June 2021 and that since then, over 8,000 people have been examined and treated by mPharma using TytoCare’s platform.
This spans around 35 pharmacies across Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Nigeria, the statement said, adding that the partnership will provide solace to patients on the continent due to lack of adequate health care facilities in some countries in the region.
Majority of the Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in Nigeria are either abandoned or providing very limited services due to inadequate manpower.
With the introduction of this initiative, the companies said patients will have access to medical personnel and comprehensive health services irrespective of location.
“For a continent with a deficit of 2.4 million nurses and doctors, digital health solutions remain key in solving Africa’s primary healthcare challenges,” Gregory Rockson, CEO of mPharma said.
What is TytoCare?
TytoCare is a telehealth company using artificial intelligence (AI) to transform primary care by putting health in the hands of consumers.
The initiative, the company claims, seamlessly connects people to clinicians to provide the best virtual home examination and diagnosis solutions.
The statement said; “Its solutions are designed to enable a comprehensive medical exam from any location and include a hand-held, all-in-one tool for examining the heart, lungs, skin, ears, throat, abdomen, and body temperature.
“It is also a complete telehealth platform for sharing exam data, conducting live video exams, and scheduling visits.”
It added that TytoCare is a cloud-based data repository with analytics; and built-in guidance technology and machine learning algorithms “to ensure accuracy and ease of use for patients and insights for healthcare providers.”
Reimagining pharmacies
Mr Rockson said community pharmacies play a central role in a patients’ primary care journey in the region.
He said through the partnership, mPharma is reimagining the community pharmacy as more than just a place where patients fill prescriptions, but instead a virtual doctor’s office where they can conduct remote appointments with doctors and specialists.
“TytoCare brings this vision one step further by enabling remote physical exams of the heart, skin, ears, throat, abdomen, and lungs, and measurement of heart rate and body temperature, allowing the doctors and specialists to gain the vital clinical data they require to monitor, diagnose, and treat patients remotely,” he said.
He said the partnership with TytoCare helps bridge the gap in the primary healthcare space in Africa.
“We have seamlessly implemented our virtual doctor consultation programme, mutti doctor, recording over 8,000 consultations across our partner mutti pharmacies since we launched last year,” he said.
He noted that mPharma’s vision is to make affordable healthcare accessible to every African, with its primary care strategy focused on ensuring that community pharmacies become primary healthcare providers.
He also said the partnership allows the company to leverage modern technology to offer “life-saving care to hard-to-reach areas and people who need it most.”
Progress so far
The companies said the mutti pharmacy network has been able to reduce costs, improve community members’ access to doctors and specialists, and save patients the long wait times that are common in hospitals and clinics.
It said on average, patients can wait two to three hours to see a doctor at public hospitals and one hour in private hospitals.
“A recent mPharma survey revealed that over 90 per cent of patients who visit the company’s mutti doctor locations have a virtual consultation with a doctor within 10 minutes. In the coming months mPharma plans to expand its mutti doctor locations, powered by TytoCare, across Africa,” he added.
The CEO of TytoCare, Dedi Gilad, said there are great success stories in the partnership with mPharma, offering patients a robust, accessible, and affordable primary care experience through local pharmacies,”
Mr Gilad said mPharma is reshaping healthcare in Africa.
“We are proud to be their partner on this journey, enabling them to up the level of remote care they’re providing with comprehensive physical examinations during virtual visits,” he said.
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