ByÂWuraola Oyedokun
Dr Temitope Farombi is a consultant neurologist at the University College Hospital [UCH], Ibadan, and founder, Online Health Company [OHEALTH]. In this interview with Optimal Times News’s  Wuraola Oyedokun,Âthe medical lecturer said with Electronic Medical Record [EMR] she recently launched under OHEALTH, it is easy to access over 150 specialists across 28 specialties.
By Wuraola Oyedokun
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You are the founder of Online Health Company, OHEALTH. What the organisiation is all about and what revolution is it bringing to the healthcare landscape?
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It’s revolutionised  healthcare delivery. It’s just similar to the way digital banking revolutionised the banking system. Before, to access banking services, you had to go to the bank, and queue to carry out some transactions. Then, the ATM and the mobile apps came. Now , you do a lot of transactions online without moving  from one place to another. We hope that, with our digitisation of the  healthcare system, we will be able to cut the high mortality and fatality rate in Nigeria. We are poised to change the narrative of early death as a result of poor  access to healthcare.
How does OHEALTH intend  to actualize the vision of changing the narrative in the nation’s health landscape ?
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One of the steps we are taking is the launch of a product. The product is called Electronic Medical Record (EMR). It’s an all-in-one health information management system that allows hospitals, pharmacies and laboratories to properly profile their patients, do their scheduling of appointments and also to input all patients information and also communicate with other departments within a system. It makes it seamless for them to manage data, manage patients information and also profile patients easily. The EMR system does not only work within the hospital but it has a telemedicine platform. That telemedicine is a mobile app that is easy for people to download through their Google play store or IOS. With that in their hands, they can communicate with any facility of   their choice through booking of appointments and  opt for virtual consultation which is the telemedicine. They can also come in for physical consultation and  pay with their mobile platform. So, it’s an all-in-one health solution for people to enjoy seamless and quality healthcare services at the comfort of their home without wasting much time.
In specific terms, what  are the problems the EMR is out to address?
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Majorly, it’s solving the problem of access and time wasting in  the hospital. So, with our solution, it’s so easy now to access over 150 specialists  across 28 specialties. For example,  if you want to talk to a pediatrician, you don’t have to start asking around to know who a pediatrician is. From our mobile apps, you can actually look for a pediatrician a s we have a lot of them on our platform. You can start a consultation with them. The patient doesn’t   have to  go into a hospital and wait endlessly. From our mobile apps, you can actually book an appointment with a hospital of choice, like the University College Hospital [UCH] and other private hospitals that are partnering with us. You can book your appointment, choose the time you want to visit the hospital which the hospital will acknowledge and then you will make your payment even before you leave your home. Then you just walk in straight into the consultation room without waiting forever  for a doctor.
Is there any partnership or any alliance that the organization is going through EMR?
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We have a lot going at this time. We are at the advanced stage talking to government hospitals, the Oyo State Ministry of Health and others.
Actually,  we are about to start a pilot launch of our products in one of the Oyo State general hospitals and primary healthcare centres.
How does the country deal with the challenge of Internet connectivity in accessing telemedicine and digital healthcare?
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We are not there yet, but we are getting there. Right now we have over 160 million Nigerians using mobile phones. That’s huge in our hands and we have more than 50 per cent of patients on the Internet across the nation. So, what we have we can take advantage of at the moment. Though we know that it should be improved upon, if connectivity did not stop the revolution in the banking system then, it should not stop healthcare accessibility.
So, I think the government can intervene in that regard.
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