“It sets a new trend in the monitoring of the patients and significantly raises the level of prenatal prevention,” he says. “An ongoing monitoring of fetal health can significantly reduce future mom’s stress level and has a positive impact on her overall well-being.
Early detection of threats, including through CTG measurements, may have a real impact on quicker response, thus giving a chance to implement a relevant medical procedure,” he says. In addressing the rising and devastating effects of Non-communicable diseases (NCD’s), Mr. Wojtek says that his company is providing a tele ECG device to monitor the heart conditions, which is a British standard for all patients suffering from Hypertension, diabetes, HIV and other cardiovascular problems.
“The device has got no consumables. It is a wireless connection with an application that can be easily downloaded via Bluetooth to a mobile phone or a computer, and after placing the portable device on the body in proximity with the heart, the recordings are immediately displayed on the phone or the computer and you can easily send the PDF file to your cardiologist. The key issue is just simplicity.
To the doctor it’s a help not a challenge”, he explained. In diagnosing Diabetic retinopathy, the eMedica company in Kenya has introduced another state of the art device with 99 per cent sensitivity and that can scan about 200 patients per day.
“The eye screening device does not require administration of any eye drop. Fundus photography documents the retina, the neurosensory tissue in our eyes which translates the optical images we see into the electrical impulses our brain understands,” says Wojtek.
The Fundus photography is also used to document the characteristics of diabetic retinopathy (damage to the retina from diabetes) such as macular edema and microaneurysms.
This is because retinal details may be easier to visualize in stereoscopic fundus photography as opposed to with direct examination. The Fundus photographs are routinely ordered in a wide variety of ophthalmic conditions, like in glaucoma (increased pressure in the eye) which can easily damage the optic nerve over time.
While using serial photographs the physicians studies subtle changes in the optical nerve and then recommends the appropriate therapy.
“Kenyans took a revolutionary step in embracing the mobile money transfer technology. I would like to encourage them not to fear embracing telemedicine as it’s only going to save lives and improve the population health as a great step towards universal health care,” said Mr. Wojtek.
