Federal Government of Nigeria partners with Canadian firm Ethnomet to Launch Digital Healthcare Platform ‘NigComHealth’

Federal Government of Nigeria partners with Canadian firm Ethnomet to Launch Digital Healthcare Platform ‘NigComHealth’

 

Centre, James Christoff, the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, with Director General  NIMC, Tukur Lawal, the Managing Director NigComSat, Kashifu Inuwa, Director General  NITDA and a host of others at the event

 

 

Nigeria Communications Satellite Ltd (NigComSat) in partnership with Ethnomet, a Canadian leading firm in healthcare technology recently launched ‘NigComHealth’, a telemedicine platform that will allow millions of Nigerians to have access to quality healthcare. ‘NigComHealth’ will transform the way patients and healthcare providers connect will transform the way patients and healthcare providers connect country by providing convenient and accessible medical consultations by licensed healthcare professionals anytime, anywhere via mobile app.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami unveiled NigComHealth in Abuja this week. The Minister, who was represented by his Chief of staff, Professor Sahalu Junaidu, said the platform would promote a “more efficient and effective healthcare system that could be accessible to all Nigerians.”

The minister also added that the current situation is worsening, with “each physician attending to more than 5,000 patients. This represents a stark contrast with WHO’s recommendation of 1 doctor to 600 patients. And with 218 million people to cater for, he said that Nigeria requires at least 363,000 additional doctors to meet this target,” which he believes NigComHealth will help achieve.

The new telemedicine platform combines innovative technology with advanced medical tools and pre-vetted licensed healthcare practitioners, enabling virtual medical visits that are secure, efficient, and personalized. The Federal Government and Ethnomet have partnered with indigenous tech implementation company Sawtrax to implement the platform across Nigeria. This will make it possible for Nigerians in any part of the country, including rural and remote areas, to book and attend appointments with qualified and specialized doctors.

‘NigComHealth’ Multi-tenant Virtual Healthcare Service Platform is designed for all hospitals to be able to integrate their healthcare professionals and offer digital health services to the Nigerian population.

The Honourable Minister continued, ‘To bridge the gap, there is urgent need to leverage on the disruptive technology to improve access to healthcare services and quality medical practitioners available within Nigeria and across the globe. Therefore, NigComHealth Platform is a timely solution that could ensure that quality healthcare services are available to all Nigerians, irrespective of their locations.” He further encouraged “stakeholders in the health sector, both public and private to onboard into the initiative.”

Mr. James Christoff, the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria said the platform will be a game changer in improving health outcomes especially in underserved and remote areas.

“The technology has been developed with the vision and strategic objective of having over 80 Federal and State-owned Government hospitals coexist on the platform. The platform is also meant to provide digital health services to 1.7 million public sector workers and their families in Nigeria,” he said.

He applauded both the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy and the Federal Ministry for Health, for their vision, and unparalleled commitment to the promotion, technology and health innovation in Nigeria.

Engineer Tukur Lawal, the Managing Director of NigComSat Ltd said that the platform will reduce the massive capital flight spent by Nigerians on medical tourism annually.

He opined that the platform will provide Nigerians with the opportunity to access affordable and world-class services from professionals regardless of their geographic location, without the need to travel to urban areas.

Ethnomet CEO, Ms. Garnette Weber, who joined the event virtually, described the digital health solution as a demonstration of the Nigeria Government’s commitment to leveraging innovative technologies to provide quality and accessible healthcare for Nigerians in all regions.

 

Weber said that “Telehealth has proven to be very effective in addressing these healthcare challenges as indicated in the Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians. In 2022, General Practitioners from 10 different countries reported that 52% of encounters would have been clinically appropriate through video interactions with patients.  Telehealth services improve health resource utilization and access to care. ”

Mike Amanyi, Product Director for Ethnomet, presented and demonstrated the technology’s capabilities. In addition to booking and attending appointments with doctors and specialists, the opportunity also exists for community virtual health centers, and integrating health data from smartwatches and other wearable devices. NigComSat and Ethnomet have scheduled training for industry stakeholder leaders in days to come”

HARNIX TECH BRINGS INNOVATIVE WEB AND ONLINE SOLUTIONS TO NIGERIAN SMEs

HARNIX TECH BRINGS INNOVATIVE WEB AND ONLINE SOLUTIONS TO NIGERIAN SMEs

 

 

In a very competitive business world today, Nigeria inclusive. The need for brands to be constantly present in the eyes of customers and prospective buyers becomes very important for any business. The importance of online presence has been described as the new way to drive revenue and profit for any organisation. Unfortunately for many Nigerian businesses especially those in the Small and Medium, Enterprises known as the SMEs have refused to understand the critical importance of internet and the immense value it has to every business with less than ten percent of SMEs having a functional website in Nigeria. Harnix Tech, an indigenous web development and online presence firm located in Lagos talks about the need for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to invest in online presence,

Speaking to the media on the importance of digital marketing and virtual presence for Nigerian firms, Harrison Okafor, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Harnix Tech Limited said, “Firstly, I would say we need to educate small business owners on why it is very important to have their business online. The reason I am saying this is because, we have dealt with clients who are clueless about the digital space, and when we present them with results of how their website was performing, they simply don’t get it. We have to break it down, so that they could truly understand what we are doing and what the next step is, when it comes to positioning their brand online.”

He added that “Secondly, I will say making use of affordable resources. I say affordable because, we are talking about SMEs here, if they find the price of a website too expensive, then what happens when we start pitching SEO to them? They would take to their hills, because SEO is very costly. SEO costs ranges from 100k – 300k monthly, and an SEO campaign could take up to 6 months or more. You don’t want to pitch SEO to an SME brand, rather you want to draft out affordable marketing strategies, which they can use to scale their business.”

On the jobs that they have executed and their go-to-market approach, Harrison opined that” At Harnix Tech, one of the things, we do is create and optimize our clients Google MyBusiness account, one of our clients, Parkview Astoria Hotel is on their top game, when it comes to ranking on Google MyBusiness, when you search for keywords like luxurious hotels in Ikoyi, 4 star hotels in Ikoyi, or hotels in Ikoyi, Parkview Hotel is with in position 1 or 2. This has helped their business generate over a million in 4-5 months. So, when dealing with SMEs, think of Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Influential Marketing, Google MyBusiness or Apple Map listing. Then once they start generating that revenue, they would have more confident in the online business, and then you could pitch SEO to them.”

On the Nigerian SMEs attitude to online presence, the tech guru said “Now when we look at the analysis of how many small businesses there are, you will notice there are over 80% small businesses and more are still going to come up. Now if we decide to check the rate of how many small businesses own a website, they are very few. We could say around 5-8%. But again, sometimes it is not about the price, it’s actually about small business owners lacking knowledge about the digital space and how the digital space could help scale their business. Businesses that do not key into the vast opportunities that internet offer is basically missing it big time.”

He said that At Harnix Tech, we make use of Influencial Marketing, social media, SEO, and Content Marketing currently. Now when it comes to Influencial Marketing, it has helped our brand generate visibility in the online space. While social media has helped us communicate more with our audience, our posts, our designs, everything communicates and we have used that to generate revenues for the brand. Content Marketing helps us build trust with our clients and create a bonding relationship with them, one of the things we do at Harnix Tech is study our client’s industry, and provide our clients information that can help them scale and stand a chance to compete in that industry. SEO has helped us generate online traffic and even sales for the brand. We are currently looking at using a new strategy, which involves turning our customers to our ambassadors, and creating a referral system.

Harnix Tech is a creative digital agency, located in Lagos. They are a team of IT professionals combining the knowledge of our skills to provide outstanding digital solutions to our business clients. With a team of professional graphic designers, web developers, content writers, marketers and IT specialists.