Combining telemedicine with mobile clinics could help low resource countries leverage existing health systems to scale up access to primary health care quickly, effectively, and cheaply.
ESO has market and technical know how in these areas of healthcare innovation, more specifically ESO can co-create and implement business strategies to:
- Design and implement networks of mobile health clinics to provide access to diagnostics and other technologies in remote areas.
- Adopt mobile phone–based “e-Health” approaches that connect health staff and rural patients with specialized care (see next section)
ESO offers business development services to manufacturers of mobile clinics that are designed to bring diagnostic tools, medicines, and supplies to local communities. These mobile clinics lower transport barriers (time and cost) that keep many deprived populations from receiving care. India, Turkey, Egypt, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda and other African countries have begun operating with this model. Critical success factors that are often mentioned:
- Focus on providing care for chronic conditions and more complex follow-up interventions (i.e., antenatal care).
- Supplies can include test kits, basic medicines, and diagnostic equipment (ultrasounds, X-ray etc.),
- Services are to include education and awareness, screening, diagnosis, treatment, the delivery of supplies.
- Routes must be chosen carefully so that each community can receive a visit at least every four weeks.
- Visits must be well advertised and timetables kept.
- Budgets for maintenance and operational costs must be in place.
- Smaller vehicles like vans can cover more diverse terrain than larger vehicles can.
Van equipped as mobile clinic can provide rural populations with HIV counseling, testing and referrals to treatment, as well as a variety of reproductive health services. (example FHI/South Africa)
