After securing a USD 3 million pre-Series A round, Webrock, an investing company that introduced a top digital health app from Brazil to South America, and a digital health company, Healthforce, owned by South Africa’s leading retail pharmacy chain Dis-Chem, will be taking the cutting edge technology behind the second most downloaded doctor app in Europe, Doktor.se to Africa.
This will provide Africa with a complete digital primary care platform. The platform will first be launched in South Africa, then will be rolled out to other parts of the continent.
The platform makes use of a freemium model and innovative approaches to reduce the costs of data, offer on-demand and scheduled consultations with mental health professionals, general health practitioners, and nurses while also providing continuous wellness management.
It is designed in a way that ensures a fully integrated end-to-end healthcare system that enables a comprehensive and holistic view of each patient across various cadres of healthcare workers to allocate the best resources to meet patients’ needs.
In addition, will be integrated into Healthforce’s network of 450 primary care clinics across South Africa where hands-on care will be provided if needed.
The solution aims at reducing the cost of quality care while ensuring the health outcomes are improved, reach patients in remote areas, and eradicate the pressure on conventional medical support systems.
“Presently, only 16% of South Africans, 9% Nigerians, and 1% Ugandans for instance have medical scheme cover since it is too expensive for the majority of the African population to afford.
While governments in Africa are trying to ensure that quality health services are accessible through national health insurance schemes, provision of universal healthcare has not been feasible seeing there are many people living in the rural areas with little or no access to healthcare facilities, while those living in the urban areas have the facilities at their doorsteps.
Saul Kornik, CEO of Healthforce said “To a large extent, this new platform ensures everyone can enjoy same quality healthcare from the same set of healthcare professional, irrespective of where they are located, as long as they have a phone and internet connection.”
“Give the rate at which telehealth has grown over the years, along with our experience from bringing Brazil’s largest health company, VibeSaudei, there is a chance to transform healthcare access to healthcare on the African continent.”
With a large population and rapidly increasing smartphone and internet penetration, Africa is an obvious and attractive health tech market opportunity.
Using data is infinitely cheaper than having to spend time and money traveling to and from clinics, not to mention paying for the clinic visit itself,” adds Joshin Raghubar, Partner at Webrock Ventures Africa.
The partners believe due to the digital adoption that accompanies the COVID19 pandemic has made it comfortable for South Africans to use tech to access services, it is the perfect time to launch the platform.
The new company aims to care for 75 million people in the next 10 years.
