South African e-health startup CenHealth has partnered emergency services provider ER24 to use technology to speed up emergency response times, aiming to close the gap between patient information and emergency services and provide paramedics with rapid access to lifesaving information.
Disrupt Africa reported in January CenHealth launched what it claimed to be the most advanced public health record system in the country. The app allows users to keep an electronic version of their health records, storing information from weight and height to allergies and allowing South Africans to keep a health diary of all doctor appointments.
Users of CenHealth can now access ER24’s pre-hospital emergency care, including emergency stabilisation, medical emergency care transportation by road and air to the nearest hospital and trauma assistance. The service works in conjunction with CenHealth’s emergency profile, through which users enter important details such as allergies, medication and next of kin – all of which help paramedics respond more speedily and accurately in the event of an emergency.
The partnership is the first of its kind in Africa, where most patient’s records are in paper format, making critical information unavailable in an emergency.
Puseletso Mompei, CenHealth’s new business director, said the startup was passionate about offering users value added services, in conjunction with their digital health record.
“Our vision is to centralise the health experience for users. While having the ability to create, store and manage your health history from any device is empowering, we believe that this should integrate with real-life situations and allow user’s access health related services,” Mompei said.
The service is available for a fee of ZAR30 (US$2) per month, and is bundled with other new services, including a camera feature to allow users to upload images to their digital record. Users can also pay a discounted annual fee.
“Access is a priority for us, so keeping the price friendly was important,” said Mompei.
