VerAngola spoke with Renata Barbosa, Country Manager of the platform in the country, to get to know more about this pioneering project in Angola.
How did the Teled Doutor Angola project come about?
The partnership between Teled Doutor Angola and Knokhealthcare emerged as a leading Portuguese startup.
This is a project that 'grew in the world'. Tell us a little about the internationalization of the platform.
It was created in 2016 in Portugal, launched in Brazil in 2019 and in Angola and South Africa in 2020. The platform currently has more than 100,000 users worldwide.
How has the response from Angolans been?
Very positive, always questioning when they will have access to all specialties, which shows great interest and expectation, clinics and doctors who attend by telemedicine will have a great competitive advantage.
Do you consider this to be one of the paths of the future of medicine?
Telemedicine is not the future, it is already present ... a path of no return.
Can I schedule a video consultation at any time?
Yes, just call our 'contact center' and check the availability of specialists.
We live in a time when a pandemic has taken over the world. How can Teledoctor help Angolans at this stage?
At the moment, we have an ongoing campaign to help combat the spread of the covid-19 pandemic in Angola, a social responsibility campaign by Teled Doutor Angola to assist screening and guidance for Angolan citizens regarding the impact of the covid-19 virus.
This campaign is free, so anyone can access the digital nurse application via WhatsApp (945 957 491) or Teledocado Angola's Facebook page, if necessary, call the telephone contacts and have the support of doctors on the platform , following all WHO guidelines.
What are the project's plans for the future? How do you intend to further develop your activities?
Our future plans are to contribute even more to digitization in the health area.
The Teled Doutor Angola platform allows a great flexibility of use for our partners who provide clinical services, for example, in the case of clinics and hospitals, they can only use our technology with their own doctors, or they can also use our platform of national and foreign specialist doctors, to reinforce and support their specialties or their medical staff, but above all, the main objective is to facilitate access to medicine, whether for possible gaps with regard to medical coverage in Angola, or to help shorten the distances between users and doctors, from cities or from those living in areas far from large urban centers, thus helping to mitigate regional asymmetries with regard to health.
