Ghana: Vodafone initiates medical advice and diagnosis via their cell phones

Vodafone Ghana has broken another new ground in the healthcare space in Ghana using the power of a mobile device to bring health services to Ghanaians anywhere in the country on all health issues.
This followed today’s Monday launch of a another branch of Vodafone’s several award winning healthline television programme, christened Vodafone Healthline 255, which enables Vodafone mobile customers to seek medical advice and diagnosis via their cell phones from a cream of medical experts assembled at one location.
“A Vodafone customer only needs to dial short code 255 and will be able to speak directly to a doctor or a nurse who will give him or her expert medical care and advice “, Carmen Bruce-Annan, Head of Brand and Corporate Affairs of Vodafone Ghana told journalists at the launch in Accra.
The medical service, she said, would be available to anyone on the network between the hours of 1600 hours to 2200 hours daily where a customer after calling 255 would be attended to by a medical expert at the call centre using specialized system of technology that helps to generate consistent and accurate service.
“The system and the service is first in Ghana in Africa,” Mrs Bruce-Annan said adding that it has come to help deal health challenges such as access, transportation and cost of medical services.
Dialling 255 to the healthline 255 centre for medical attention cost a customer one pesewa per minute.
The Clinical Director of the Healthline 255, Dr Bryite Asamoah, also of the main Vodafone Healthline TV programme, described the innovation as a service that would empower many Ghanaians on their health conditions and help them to seek the right medical advice and diagnosis.
He said with a country with poor doctor-to-patient ratio, the Vodafone Ghana’s initiative would help lots of Ghanaians to have the right information on common ailments such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke and many others.
“Lack of health awareness is the main cause of most mortality recorded in our health centres today. This new innovative service (Healthline 255) to Ghanaians will help to reduce the burden of diseases and other health related matters,” Dr Asamoah noted. GNA