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A medical firm, Megalife Sciences, on Friday unveiled its ‘We Care Diabetes’ application towards helping to provide real-time cutting-edge medical care for a growing number of diabetes patients in the country,
Speaking during the unveiling of the apps at the just concluded 45th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of Endocrine and Metabolism Society of Nigeria in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, the Chief Executive Officer of Health@Home, Megalife Sciences, Digital Division, Dr Binu Joy, said that the company is only using the digital opportunities to revolutionise care for diabetes patients in Nigeria and Africa.
Joy explained that just as every area of human endeavour-be it education, finance, or entertainment has been impacted by the deployment of technology, the health sector is also not left behind as digital tools remain what is now being used to connect with the people because people have equally become digital in nature.
He said, “Especially in the management of diseases like diabetes where patients need tools to connect with the doctors multiple times”, they need to understand their conditions and manage their conditions for many years.
“Having a diabetes digital tool helps to do all of this much more seamlessly than they have been doing before.
“The apps empowers an individual patient to take ownership of the management of the disease. For instance, as a patient, do I have a sufficient understanding of the disease?
“Do I need to clear my doubts on anything? Is there anything to tell me about the food to eat and what the size should be and so on? All this becomes better if I have a tool that helps in a timely manner.”
The endocrinologist added that the users of the App will also be able to maximise their limited time when seeing their doctors because all of their medical records are already on the App and it is easier for the doctors to understand the plight of such patients and attend to him or her very quickly.
He described the App as very user-friendly and that it has been so designed to thrive in countries where digital knowledge and data among others are still a challenge.
Speaking during the launch of the App, a Consultant Endocrinologist with Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Prof Michael Olamoyegun, said that the deployment of technology is very vital to reaching several unreached diabetes patients.
Olamoyegun revealed that solutions like the ‘We Care Diabetes’ application will help to reach several unreached.
The Professor of Medicine and Endocrinology said “Patients with diabetes are profiled on the App. Whenever they take their blood sugar, they can upload it into the App. If they have any questions to clarify, they can equally ask and then a doctor or the coach can look into such results and respond in real time.
“But if the person is busy, when he is free, he can look into the App and reply to the messages of the people.
“The App has been designed in such a way that there is privacy of each person’s data, so Patient A can’t get to see the data of Patient B. It is a way to actually improve the management and treatment of diabetes in the country because it will help a lot to reach the unreached and increase the scope of diabetes specialist expertise.
The Head of Digital Marketing, Megalife Sciences, Ibukun Adetuyi, described diabetes as a very tough condition to manage as it involves a lot of stakeholders such as the family members, the caregivers, the patients, different types of doctors, all of which encourage fragmented health care.
Adetuyi said that the launch of the ‘We Care Diabetes’ application will however help to coordinate the care of diabetes patients in a single platform such that both the patients and doctors and other caregivers can access
She explained further that “use of this App by the diabetes patients will help them to be integrated into other healthcare applications.
“For instance, their glucometer readings can be connected via Bluetooth to the apps. It provides a single platform for the patients to have all their records such as the test, and glucose readings among others.
“They will equally get access to doctors or health coaches in the App. We want as many diabetes patients to embrace the apps because it has been so designed to reduce lots of burden and help the diabetes patients manage a lot more better and efficiently their medical care than ever before.”
