Medsearch Zambia

The healthcare sector in many African countries, including Zambia, is facing numerous challenges, including limited access to healthcare facilities, high costs, and low availability of essential medicines. The Zambian Ministry of Health seeks to ensure equitable access to essential and specialized healthcare services, medicines and medical supplies for all Zambian citizens as close to the family as possible. However, access to essential health services, particularly in rural areas, remains very low. Ministry of Health strives to empower the Zambian citizens with public health information through campaigns, mass media and other methods.

Zambia has made remarkable strides towards use of IT platforms in the management of healthcare. The Ministry of Health uses the electronic logistics management information system (eLMIS) in the logistics management of essential medicines and laboratory commodities, Logistimo to manage vaccines centrally and SmartCare as an electronic patient records management system among other platforms. However, in spite of all these tech developments, access to medical services through IT solutions is almost non-existent in the country.

The Medsearch Zambia app was developed with the goal of making healthcare more accessible to the masses. It provides users with directions to those healthcare services, enables them to book hospital appointments, purchase over-the-counter medication online, and increase visibility for SME health businesses. It uses advanced technology to find the nearest pharmacies or healthcare services that have the medication currently in stock. This reduces the need for patients to travel long distances in search of essential medicines, saving time and resources and reducing the need for long waiting times in crowded hospitals.

Medsearch Zambia platform, available on both Android and Apple as a mobile application, bridges the gap between service provider and client. Services which can be accessed through the platform include : Health facilities location, services provided, address, operational hours and contact information; Medication information; Availability of medicines at particular health facilities; Location of medical insurance providing health facilities.

The platform is work in progress with many areas requiring initiation and expansion. These include: Appointment bookings; Health services home calls; Medicines online purchases and home deliveries. Expansion plans to target rapid access to the following services are underway: Maternal health; Cancer; HIV/AIDS and Non communicable diseases.

The solution compliments the advertising efforts of health service providers (hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories) and increases the visibility of healthcare providers. Medsearch Zambia, through its platform, provides medication information and updates the public on trendy public health matters. The aim is to improve health seeking behavior among Zambians.