Dr Silayo: Taking medical care beyond hospital walls

In a bid to improve the healthcare sector in Tanzania, the National Digital Health Strategy 2019-2024 was developed to facilitate a space where digital platforms to streamline delivery of healthcare services were developed successfully.

Birthed out of witnessed realities during medical training, Medikea was built on the vision that healthcare should be accessible to anyone, anywhere, at any given time.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Co-Founder of Medikea, Dr Elvis Silayo, was fortunate enough to meet his partners while still in medical school, and their individual experiences dealing with patients and watching some get help at dire times were catalytic in their decision to venture into digital healthcare.

As a graduate of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMC), Dr Elvis and his co-founder didn’t initially envision that their journey through medical school would lead them to the forefront of healthcare innovation.

Medikea is a trailblazing digital healthcare service and telemedicine company that connects doctors to their patients at all times, helping them get primary help quicker.

Dr Elvis shares that his experiences as a doctor and those witnessed during his internship at Muhimbili Hospital illuminated the dire need for change.

Witnessing patients endure needless suffering due to inefficiencies in basic healthcare systems ignited a passion within him to seek solutions beyond the hospital walls.

“What I observed when I was rotating in the ICU was that a lot of the patients ended up there with complications from diseases that could have been better managed,” Dr Elvis says.

“Let’s say nine out of ten patients have either hypertension, diabetes, or strokes; they’d end up in critical care because of complications developed from either improper use of medication, lack of proper medication, inability to get timely care and even poor lifestyle choices.”

“As a doctor, I got to see how easily Muhimbili gets congested with patients coming from all over Tanzania to be treated, many of whom could have gotten treated closer to their homes if there were more healthcare options,” he adds.

“As young doctors, the challenge for us then was how to take healthcare services to the patients beyond the walls of the hospital,” he elaborates.

He further adds that due to the congestion in hospitals, doctors were failing to prioritise effectively and as a result, patients are forced to waste hours in never-ending queues for mere minutes with their physicians.

“This inconvenience often causes patients to postpone necessary care, leading to serious consequences such as life-threatening strokes and premature deaths, which in turn perpetuates a cycle of poverty and despair,” he elaborates.

He emphasises that for some of these patients, losing their lives is often an avoidable tragedy.

As a trained medical doctor, he decided to find ways to meet the patients who fail to visit healthcare facilities. An opportunity that stood out to him was use of technology to reach a wider pool of patients.

Recognising the abundant presence of mobile phones in today's society, Dr Silayo and his team leveraged technology to create a system where accessing healthcare is as convenient as ordering food or hailing a ride.

“If people can order food through their mobile phone or request a bolt through their mobile phone, what about healthcare? We believed that there is an opportunity for healthcare to be as convenient as other services,” he shares.

With a blend of medical expertise and technological prowess, they assembled a diverse team of clinicians and engineers, laying the foundation for a healthcare revolution.

“We already had a team of medical professions so we proceeded to hire technical talent that we could work with to build Medikea,” Dr Elvis shares.

The cornerstone of Medikea's approach is its mobile application, which works as a digital hospital in various ways.

The app allows patients to open accounts, similar to files you would find in a physical hospital that contain all essential information and records.

Through the app, patients are able to connect with healthcare professionals, receive consultations, and even access a network of partner medical facilities.

To further address the challenge of rising healthcare costs and ensure comprehensive care, Medikea ventured into physical clinics equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.

These clinics serve as both treatment centres and logistics hubs, complementing the telemedicine services offered through the app.

“On the app, we can offer consultations and partner with other medical hubs. From the partnership aspect, we came into costing issues because these partners have to make money just as we do, so at the end of the day, it becomes more expensive for the patient once again,” he says.

“To ensure that we remove all unnecessary costs, we had to open our own physical facilities.”

By integrating telemedicine with traditional clinic services, Medikea now offers a holistic approach to healthcare delivery.

Navigating regulatory landscapes posed its own set of challenges, but Medikea found a strategic solution.

By aligning with government regulations and positioning their clinics as extensions of established healthcare facilities, they ensured compliance while pioneering digital health solutions.

“Having a physical practice helped put us in a safer zone because we can now provide care within the legal regulatory frameworks and still run our telemedicine services more effectively,” he says.

While building the digital arm of Medikea, Dr Elvis shares that to ensure patient privacy and trust, they had to adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which sets the standard for the protection of sensitive patient data.

HIPAA mandates that companies that deal with protected health information must have physical, network and process security measures and follow them to ensure compliance.

Medikea also offers educative insights and updates through the app, reminders to patients who require follow up, prescription refills and so much more.

The app is a two-way street. Just as patients are able to receive information on how best to take care of themselves or reminders for their medications, doctors from Medikea are also alerted when their patients aren’t adhering to their instructions, which could warrant a firmer reminder.

For patients who are further away from Medikea facilities, they are able to get test recommendations and directed to the nearest facilities to have their tests taken. They then share this information with their doctor on the app through a feature that functions a lot like WhatsApp.

However, if need be, Medikea is also positioned to send lab techs out into the field to meet with patients to collect test samples and return them to their facility for testing.

This type of convenience has given a lot of patients hope, especially since they are afforded lowered costs for assistance.

“For patients who visit the clinic first before using the app, they are more inclined to start on the app the next time they need a doctor and this has helped us build trust with our patients because there are those who would wonder if they are really talking to a human doctor,” Dr Elvis shares.

“Telemedicine is just a channel, but sometimes we do need to see a patient in person and so not everything can be solved via online consultation,” he cautions.

Medikea, is not just a company; it's a beacon of hope for millions and a living example of how even the most traditional of services can branch out and meet their customer’s needs better.

With plans to expand further into underserved areas, Dr Silayo envisions a future where quality healthcare is within reach for all Tanzanians.