NIGERIA – Afrihealth, a technology-driven healthcare company, has recently launched a medical app called Rigour+ to upgrade the African healthcare landscape by addressing critical challenges and providing convenience to citizens.
Rigour+ tackles major issues such as limited access to quality healthcare, rampant counterfeit drugs, inadequate ambulance services, and difficulty in obtaining medical services.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), counterfeit drugs are responsible for approximately 500,000 deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa yearly.
In Nigeria alone, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) estimates that 10-15 percent of drugs in circulation are fake or substandard, leading to thousands of preventable fatalities.
As such, the platform focuses on telemedicine, medication prescription, purchase and authentication, and ambulance services.
The app’s innovative scanning technology empowers users to make informed choices, ensuring they purchase only genuine products. This feature can significantly reduce the risk of adverse health effects and save lives by detecting fake or substandard medications.
“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,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Afrihealth, Linda Obi, said.
“Rigour+ is now available for free download on the App Store and Google Play Store. Afrihealth envisions Rigour+ as the catalyst for transforming healthcare access across Nigeria and the broader African continent.”
According to her, patients can securely book video consultations with doctors, control video settings during calls, obtain prescriptions based on doctor consultations, and store medical records electronically for easy access.
“They can also order medications directly through the app, complete payments securely, and receive deliveries at your preferred address. Use the app’s scanning feature to verify product integrity, and detect counterfeit drugs. Returns and refunds are available when necessary,” she added.
“Patients can also request an ambulance during emergencies with just a few taps. These features are accessible through a user-friendly interface prioritizing convenience and accessibility.”
Speaking at the event also, a health education expert, Mr. Chinonso Ejemba, who buttressed the role that technology was going to play in Nigeria’s health sector, stressed that it was going to democratise the healthcare system by making room for accessible, affordable and premium health care.
For the VP Partnership, AfriHealth, Mr. Chikezie Jude, with an issue of brain drain, current level of doctor-to-patient ratio, the standard of the healthcare practitioners cannot be reduced, adding it could only be solved through digitalisation of the healthcare industry.
According to him, “There’s no way a human being can split himself on multiple occasions, but with digitalisation of healthcare, with tele-medicine, we have one person speaking at his convenience to people that don’t need to leave their homes to get to the hospital.”
In February this year, Quro Medical, a digital health technology company, launched a new mobile application for doctors to enhance efficiency and promote greater care in the treatment of their patients on the Quro hospital-at-home programme.
The mobile app is basically a carbon copy of the enhanced hospital-at-home web application, and everything that you can do on the website interface you can do on the app on your phone or tablet device.
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