Anyone in need of healthcare service can now seek healthcare services and also inquire about COVID-19 at the comfort of their phones without necessarily exposing themselves at the hospitals or in public places.
This is after an IT firm, Snark Health, introduced a USSD code for users to get important updates, information and interact with medics across the country.
Snark Health platform is creating a network of patients and doctors who transact in cash. The population level data that is created overtime will be de-identified and both patients and doctors will have an opportunity to earn from it. Thus creating a health savings vehicle for patients to access health care without the need of health insurance.
According to the Founder and CTO Eng. Edwin Lubanga, the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic is at a critical point and requires unprecedented coordination.
“Our efforts are aimed at enabling more rapid dissemination of information to improve patient outcomes,” notes Eng. Lubanga in an interview with WakajuanessLive.Com.
Access to healthcare is a global problem. Today, only 11% of Kenyans are covered with the National Insurance Health Fund(NHIF). 70% of the population work in the informal sector and they are either not eligible for healthcare premiums or simply cannot afford. Cash paying patients get a raw deal as 20-40% of global health care spending is wasted per the WHO.
“We are building a network of patients and doctors who transact in cash and with a predictive dynamic pricing model to match patients with doctors, diagnostics and therapeutics”
Snark Health, through their triage services, launched its flagship USSD platform to help patients to get the right care, at the right place, at the right time through virtual healthcare services and high quality preferred clinics and hospitals.
Snark Health USSD service *483*090# is up and running as an additional way of disseminating information to those people who do not have internet access or limited features such as feature phones. Simply dial the code and interact with a Clinical Officer.
For example, when I dials the code *483*090#, it directed me to a clinical officer and I shot the following question via text message:
“Hello Officer. Am Blogger Simiyu Wakajuaness from Bungoma. Got your contact from www.snarkhealth.com *483*090#. Just asking, if I ran out of my alcoholic sanitizer, can I use methylated spirit to clean my hands?”
In return, she responded:
“Hi simiyu, hope you meant alcohol based sanitizer. M’spirit can be used as the last option as a hand sanitizer, it’s denatured alc content is 94% way too high from our recommended sanitizers of alc content of 70% and thus with continued use on skin it denatures all the normal flora on that sites affected. So once or twice yes, ONLY on non broken skin. #lets use the 70% one it’s safer. Thanks”
Those with smartphones or internet enabled devices are able to log onto the browser based platform: https://consult.snarkhealth.com for a richer experience including video calls, e-prescription and messaging.
Are you a doctor, nurse, clinical officer or health care professional? Join Snark Health platform via: https://consult.snarkhealth.com/doctor/login
For further questions reach out to Snark Health Team via: hello@snarkhealth.com.