According to The Times of Africa, South Sudanese hospitals have just four ventilators for the country’s 12 million inhabitants, those in Burkina Faso have 11 for 21 million citizens, while hospitals in Somalia have none. Additionally, Venezuela only has 84 ICU beds for a population of 32 million and even US Today reports that the US only has one hospital bed for every six 'seriously ill' patients.
To manage the impending crisis of hospital readiness in South Africa, Trixta, a collaborative low-code platform for business thinkers and software developers, has launched ReportCovidCase.com- a web app that enables hospitals to get a leading indicator of how many cases they will have in the near future.
Real-time data
The web-based app works by enabling local referring General Practitioners (GPs) to log cases and this information is then accessible to hospitals in real-time to help them plan their capacity and equipment needs.
It is free of charge for use with no setup or training needed, and the uploading of patient details can be anonymised, meaning that hospitals can deploy it almost instantly.
“The site is very quick and easy to use. I can log cases directly after a consult in about a minute. It means I can focus more where it matters - tending to my patients,” says Dr Sonia Hough, a private GP.
According to Roger Norton, co-founder and COO at Trixta, says “A well-prepared hospital saves lives. Previously, GPs were relaying alerts to hospitals over WhatsApp and phone calls. However, with the anticipated upsurge that is likely to emerge particularly once the national lockdown is lifted, this will not be feasible. If hospitals can start measuring what the referring doctors are seeing, they can better prepare for the coming days and weeks. Additionally, Covid-19 is a long-term problem that requires immediate action, but with a long-term outlook, as doctors are preparing to fight infections for at least two years.”
The company was approached by a private GP helping out at a prominent Cape Town hospital who expressed concerns regarding the lack of timeous information around Covid-19 cases reaching hospitals which, in turn, prevents them from adequately planning the numbers of ventilators, beds and staff required.
Trixta’s low-code platform enabled a scalable crisis management platform to be built within only 72 hours by just three developers, with a website designed by Cape Town-based design agency, Now Boarding.
The ReportCovidCase.com platform is currently being trialled amongst 70 doctors in the greater Cape Town City Bowl area and one hospital, with immediate plans to roll it out to two more hospitals in the region. The platform has been built to be hospital and city agnostic, with the capability to sign up multiple hospitals within just one day, ensuring that it can be scaled further across South Africa and beyond, however funding is required to enable this.
“Up until now this has been a completely pro bono project, but there is an increasingly urgent need to provide this kind of support to more hospitals throughout the country so that they can be properly prepared to face the impending spike in Covid-19 cases,” shares Norton.
To assist with funding, email moc.atxirt@91divoc.
