There are promising solutions to problems in primary health care but they are mostly emerging in the private sector.
“I never look forward to clinic day,” says Nomtsato Tsietsi, 74, on a Monday morning while standing in the queue at Kayamandi Clinic in Stellenbosch which she visits up to three times a month to collect pills, consult with a doctor, and have her blood tests taken.
During our visit to Kayamandi Clinic, we asked patients whether they would embrace technological solutions to make the experience more efficient. They all said they would. Almost all of them are smartphone users and some said they could not understand why appointments cannot be made and managed digitally, or why they cannot communicate with health workers online rather than in person., for example, offers a platform that mimics a consultation with a healthcare practitioner.
The team, led by Peter Reid, developed a technology to alleviate the high rate of fraud at medicine dispensing points, the difficulty of transferring medical records between different clinics, and the long waiting times. The trial ended shortly before the start of the Covid pandemic. The project has not yet been restarted.. Founded by Dr William Mapham in 2014, Vula aims to bridge the gap between health workers and specialists.
But other innovators in the health space, frustrated by the public sector, are focusing on providing affordable private healthcare. This follows a growing trend in South Africa, as medical aid providers increasingly offer more affordable packages targeted to lower-income earners.
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