Published on : 01/09/2022 – 00:01
Already accessible in the Maghreb countries, DabaDoc is a digital health service that allows you to make appointments or carry out consultations online. Orange claims more than 8 million users and more than 10,000 referenced healthcare professionals. At the end of June, DabaDoc was officially launched in Côte d’Ivoire.
It is the first platform of this type in Sub-Saharan Africa. ” DabaDoc is a technological platform dedicated to health that connects patients, explains Zineb Drissi Kaitouni, the general manager of Dabadoc, health professionals, and the entire health ecosystem in general: radiology centers, clinics, hospitals, etc. And which makes it possible to digitize the entire patient experience, from making an appointment to their visit to the doctor and obtaining a medical prescription. »
With this platform, it is a question of meeting a real need: access to a medical consultation. ” Today, in Africa, there is a lack of practitioners, pointed out Zineb Drissi Kaitouni. It is estimated that in 2035, there will be a shortage of 4.5 million health professionals on the continent and therefore, telecommunications is today a solution that will make it possible to compensate for this lack of health professionals in order to be able to reach a population which is found in particular in rural areas, in landlocked areas and which will be able to provide medicine, precisely thanks to connectivity to the patient from home. »
Possibility to prepay consultations
Among the services also offered, the possibility for the diaspora to prepay consultations for families in the country. This is not the first project of this type in which Orange is committed. ” At Orange, we believe that there is no sustainable economic impact without social impact, says Elisabeth Medou Badang, spokeswoman for Orange Africa. But essential issues such as health, such as education, we consider that it is our responsibility to contribute to the resolution of these issues. Bringing connectivity, yes, that’s very good, after that, you have to bring a certain number of uses that make this connectivity truly transform people’s lives. And that’s what we’re doing with E-santé and this partnership with DabaDoc. »
And it is not by chance that this service is launched in Côte d’Ivoire. ” Why Ivory Coast? Côte d’Ivoire is a first country, we will have several other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, in any case, we are working for that. And then, it must be said that Côte d’Ivoire has been involved for some time in E-health in the AIF, in general, I have in mind for example this partnership with GAVI, the alliance for vaccines which was launched in 2018 and the objective being to facilitate the vaccination rate of populations. So today, we have more than 10,000 people who are registered, we have thousands of people who have benefited from access to vaccination. So naturally, Côte d’Ivoire came first, let’s say, but it’s just a question of timing, others will follow. »
Senegal and Cameroon should see the implementation of this service by 2023. Among the challenges to the implementation of the platform in certain countries of sub-Saharan Africa: having a connected device, access to electricity and sufficient internet speed.