By Kuda Pembere
Zimsmart Villages, a telehealth service provider and an American based company, the Samp Group have signed a partnership dubbed The Samp Zimsmart Villages Initiative in a move that is set improve health service delivery via telehealth services in Zimbabwean.
The partnership will see the establishment of 150 telehealth kiosks and 750 booths over the next two years. Samp Group is a multifaceted global organization renowned for the globalization of cricket.
I really like this concept as it can also fit in with us because I am based in the US but also strong in India side,” said Samp group founder and chairman Mr Ritesh Patel speaking to journalists on Saturday.
“With this concept we can also support a lot more since we will be opening 150 units but at the same time our goal and our future perspectives are to bring latest equipment from the US side and medicine. From India, we would like to bring more doctors. At the same time, we would like to bring in medication which can be provided here at a lower cost which can be affordable for everyone.”
Zimpost’s PostMaster General Mr Maxwell Chitendeni said they began this partnership with Zimsmart to ensure specialist health services reach people particularly those in rural areas.
“As an implementing agency for government’s policies and programs, falling under the Ministry of ICT and Courier Services, we are also mandated to digitize services in the country,” he said.
“We do that by ensuring e-health are provided in the post office. This is where you saw us coming up with the private public partnership with Zimsmart where they are coming with telehealth booths and telehealth kiosks using the current technologies in the medical field.”
He added, “Patients are able to interact with medical practitioners, diagnosed by specialists without even getting to a central hospital which in my view has assisted citizenry who were moving far away from rural areas as you know 60 percent of the country’s population is in the rural areas.”
Zimsmart co-founder and chief medical officer Dr Admore Jokwiro said their telehealth kiosks come in to bridge the gap created by the shortage of doctors in Zimbabwe.
“We are really excited to be here and speaking from my heart, what we are building and what we have built is something that concerns us. It is something that is important for our people in Zimbabwe.
“It is something that we are going to speak to our grandchildren about. So in terms of numbers, our doctor to patient population ratio is 1 per 5000 people and that is quite low. To make this clearer, if we are to take Australia in drawing the parallel, they have 17 doctors per 5000 people.
“So they have 17 times more doctors than we have. And why does this matter, again in terms of numbers, our life expectancy is 62 but in Australia, the life expectancy is 82. So Australians live 29 years more than Zimbabweans. This is why we have to translate the doctor to patient ratio to health outcomes,” he said.
He noted that they have to date installed 10 telehealth kiosks in Zimbabwe’s post offices.
“Zimsmart villages is a telehealth and telemonitoring services company. Telehealth is the ability to offer health services at a distance.
“So a doctor is here in Harare and offering assistance to a person in Mutare or Nyanga, an area which is 300 KM away. We are installing telehealth kiosks inside our post offices.
