Ghanaian e-health startup Redbird has launched the COVID-19 Daily Check-in App and Symptom Tracker in its bid to counter the spread of the novel coronavirus on the African continent.
Founded in 2018, Redbird is a medical diagnostics distributor providing access to healthcare in Ghana through community pharmacies.
The startup offers testing for various chronic and acute conditions, and enables pharmacists to track the results of their customers over time and manage their stock accordingly. Redbird, which Disrupt Africa reported earlier today has been selected for the Founders Factory Africa Venture Scale programme and last year also secured funding from Gray Matters Capital through GMC coLABS in 2018 , launched a patient monitoring app last year, and has now rolled out the COVID-19 Daily Check-in App and Symptom Tracker.
Accessible as a browser based app here, Redbird’s COVID-19 check-in app is a way for every person to self-report symptoms, or the lack of them, tagged to their phone number and location. The solution will enable officials from Ghana Health Service to see a real-time map of where patients are self-reporting symptoms in order to follow-up directly with high-risk patients. This provides them with a digital alternative to the overwhelmed hotlines for triage and follow-up.
Through this platform, Redbird also provides hospitals with digital record keeping and remote triage potential to keep unnecessary patients from coming to the hospital and putting themselves and others at risk. This will also pave the way for sample collection and test scheduling to minimize unnecessary patient interactions.
“These remain trying times all over the world, but we’re also seeing an incredible validation of everything we’ve been built at Redbird and we’re not letting that slip by. With limited testing resources, understanding where the risk is and how to reach those at risk is of great importance. We have been looking at how to support public health with the data and the COVID-19 Daily Check-in App and Symptom Tracker is one such way,” said Patrick Beattie, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of Redbird.