With just beneath two million infections worldwide and a quarter of the range recovering, Covid-19 looks to have introduced stress to a lot of persons, particularly, in higher-hazard prone parts.
Ghana is yet to file double-digit fatalities but verified instances have crossed the 500 mark. It raises concerns about voluntary screening, apart from the regimen and expanded screening becoming undertaken by the Ghana Well being Provider.
Prior to rushing to the healthcare facility to know your chance status, potentially, you may well 1st want to examine out an application developed by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technologies (KNUST).
A group of experts from KNUST College of Public Health has formulated the world-wide-web-dependent application, termed Covid-19 TECHBOT.
It is the brainchild of Dr Arti Singh of the KNUST Hospital, who states the innovation was informed by the want to lessen abnormal medical professional-affected person get hold of through this period because of to the hazard of cross-an infection and cut down exposure to healthcare personnel.
“We want to lessen as significantly as feasible non-critical visits by sufferers. We really don’t want lots of men and women to arrive to the medical center setting simply because these spots are presently the most dangerous parts,” she points out.
Dr. Singh leveraged her experience in the use of technologies for manage of non-communicable ailments such as diabetes and hypertension with the help of Dean of Community Health and fitness, Prof Ellis Owusu-Dabo, and Kenneth Asante Owusu of the University Details Technologies Expert services, to style an application that can be used to evaluate possibility for Covid-19.
“It’s intended to reduce panic and panic that is triggered by the covid-19 so that folks can sit in their properties and evaluate their hazard in the comfort and ease of their houses,” she claimed.
The App, which is now a free of charge weblink, was designed dependent on pointers from the World Wellbeing Organisation and Ghana Well being Assistance.
It offers evaluation based on answers composed from 8 concerns.
“It is made up of 8 queries with various alternative options with different scores assigned to each and every response,” Dr Singh describes.
The resource presents a final possibility evaluation of the person ranging from, minimal, medium to high possibility.
“After that it provides you information on what you are intended to do. If you are observed to be higher- threat it offers you with helpline numbers from the Ghana Wellness Provider and mainly because it was developed with learners and staff members of the college in mind, there are get hold of figures of the university hospital, as well,” she exposed.
“The App which was deployed in the to start with 7 days of April has experienced much more than 6,000 responses already. More than 4,000 are lower hazard and a several of them 86 are higher chance. Most of the large-threat assessments are males,” Mr Asante Owusu disclosed.
So what are buyers indicating about the application? Brilliant Atteh, a front desk government who is not new to health care Apps, is happy with TECHBOT but he thinks it could be far more private.
“I’m a shopper company staff and somebody is also a driver. Both of us meet folks in another way. When I meet them I will not know whether or not they’re at danger or not. If they could extend it they’ll know more about my motion,” he noted
Vivid also thinks the ultimate evaluation of lower, medium and higher danger should really be quantified.
“They need to give us the effects in percentages. So if it is medium what share? This can assistance me protect myself a lot more,” he prompt.
Unlike the GH COVID-19 tracker created by the Ghana Health and fitness Service which calls for private details these kinds of as mobile quantity and electronic mail ID, TECHBOT does not need these particulars.
“We wished just one of the things could figure out individual site but just for the reason that it’ll give us obtain to the patient, it’s an identifier,” Dr Singh pointed out.
”If we could get the destinations dependent on where by individuals are answering these inquiries from then, at the very least, for individuals who’ll be in the medium or high possibility, we could get accessibility to them and arrange surveillance screening mainly because it may possibly transform out to be a hotspot and we could take the important methods. In the approaching days, we may well go in advance to enhance it and add some more characteristics to make it far more instructive,” she additional.
With the virus getting to be extra intricate to handle, amid likely extension of lockdowns, digital platforms, these kinds of as the TECHBOT, will come in handy to augment platforms, like the 1 launched by federal government, to quell the variety of bacterial infections.
You might want to give it a try out.
