NIGCOMHEALTH: A Digital Healthcare Platform for Nigerians

NIGCOMHEALTH is a telehealth service platform enabling Nigerians to conveniently book appointments, seek medical advice, and consult with healthcare professionals from their homes, offices, schools, and local communities in Abuja. It was developed in joint collaboration between the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT),  Ethnomet and Sawtrax.

NIGCOMHEALTH, regarded as Africa’s first digital healthcare platform, is a revolutionary and transformative innovation that will potentially serve and aid the country’s healthcare infrastructure. In addition, the Canadian commissioner highlighted the vision to establish and incorporate over 80 federal and state-owned hospitals on the NIGCOMHEALTH platform.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ethnomet, Garnette Weber, emphasising the importance of telehealth services as a proven strategy to meet the growing demand for healthcare resources, praised the Nigerian government’s dedication to utilising cutting-edge technologies for high-quality, widely accessible healthcare nationwide.

“The continuous increase in the global population has resulted in a growing demand for scarce healthcare human resources, which has become a global concern for governments. Telehealth has effectively addressed these healthcare challenges, as indicated in the Commonwealth Fund’s International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians. In 2022, practitioners from ten countries reported that 52%  of encounters would have been clinically appropriated through video interactions with patients. Thus, telehealth services improve health resource utilisation and access to care,” she stated.

In addition, NIGCOMHEALTH, as a telehealth service, will serve to reduce the burden of physical hospital visits while enhancing the overall quality of healthcare for citizens. Moreso, the launch of NIGCOMHEALTH aligns with the Nigerian government’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a digital Nigeria and the vision to promote digital transformation and boost economic activities in the country.

The platform will ensure an inclusive, more effective healthcare system in Nigeria and increase the ability of healthcare providers to provide high-quality treatments by utilising technology to reach patients in far-off locations with little financial outlay and physical strain.