NIGERIA— Afrihealth, the technology solutions provider has launched Rigour+, a medical application that aims to improve healthcare access to a growing population.
The mobile application according to the firm, would transform the African healthcare landscape by addressing critical challenges and providing convenience and quality healthcare services at users’ fingertips.
Speaking at the launch of the app in Lagos, the Afrihealth CEO, Linda Obi, said that Rigour+ would revolutionize healthcare access for millions of Africans, adding that it would tackle major issues such as limited access to quality healthcare, rampant counterfeit drugs, and difficulty in obtaining medical services.
She maintained that Afrihealth’s dedication to patients’ safety was showcased through Rigour+’s emphasis on combating counterfeit drugs.
Dr. Obi said, “We’re thrilled to launch Rigour+ after countless hours of development and refinement. We believe this app has the potential to radically transform healthcare access for Nigerians, making it more accessible, convenient, and reliable than ever before.”
Afrihealth claims that there is a significant role that technology is going to play in Nigeria’s health sector, and it is going to democratize the healthcare system by making room for accessible, affordable, and premium healthcare.
The application is going to address issues such as insufficient healthcare professionals.
The current level of doctor-to-patient ratio according to the National Executive Council (NEC) as of 2022 stood at 1 doctor for 5000 patients against the WHO recommendation of 1 doctor for 600 patients.
In a country according to the International Journal of Medicine in 2022 found out that 88% (almost 9 in 10) of Nigerian doctors and about 50% of Nigerian nurses consider seeking job opportunities abroad.
This shortage of medical professionals in the country is having a significant impact on healthcare in Nigeria, as the available doctors are overworked and under-resourced.
Even though this is not a novel issue, the Nigerian government is currently discussing Medical and Dental Practitioners Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022, which seeks to stem the brain drain problem in the country.
However, this Bill has met vehement opposition from the Nigerian Medical Students Association (NiMSA).
The crisis does not have a solution in the near horizon and hence organizations such as Afrihealth can plug the gap and solve the crisis through the digitalization of the healthcare industry.
Rigour+ is a healthcare platform that will offer full-spectrum care, from diagnosis to medication therapy.
Afrihealth is intending to seamlessly connects telemedicine, diagnostics, pharmacy services, & insurance to provide better, affordable healthcare.
The technology-based healthcare provider asserts that their goal is to break down the obstacles between primary care and socially determined barriers to create a better healthcare experience.
Afrihealth will also ensure virtual professional consults, stable access to medical service providers, and guaranteeing access to safe medications & coverage through insurance providers without an intimidating heap of paperwork.
Afrihealth has been leveraging the advances in Artificial Intelligence and network security to augment the reach of physicians and provide on-demand access whilst ensuring that you get the best and safest access to our platform.
Nigeria, with a population of 170 million, is one of the most populous nations but weak in healthcare standards.
Despite extensive investments, the country still has insufficient healthcare delivery infrastructures, poor quality healthcare services, and unevenly distributed human resource capacity.
Nigeria ranks at position 142 out of 195 countries according to a Lancet report´s ranking of health systems performance using healthcare access and quality as its criteria.
Government spending on healthcare in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, falls short of the average across the Sub-Saharan region, and reliance on out-of-pocket spending puts healthcare out of reach for the poorest Nigerians.
The need to democratize and improve access to healthcare is fundamental and perhaps the solution could be in healthcare technology.
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