Why is the medical fields slow to embrace technology like kenya financial sector

[Omollo]

I think I missed something.  I'm trying to get a line on how Kenyatta No. 1 and the Brits messed it up and why the local management has since then been f**king up.   

My assumption was that you will complete the dots.

You have inadvertently done so however with your mention of "anti-communism". Having such a hospital working and state of the art worked against the narrative. Need I specify the man who presided over this policy in Kenya?

[mya88]

MOONKI

This is incorrect. Actually that is how business is done in the US. Most hospitals do not have Radiologists within the hospitals. They perform x-rays, CT scans and MRIs, then send the images to a radiologists who reads them and sends back the results electronically. So a company like Nyokabis is just catching up with what the US has been doing all along.

Perhaps we are on two different lines here.   Terminator is proposing that folks in Kenya be able to do all sorts of "outsourcy" stuff  for people elsewhere.  I also stated that I did not think Nyokabi could get much (outsourced) business from the USA, not in the USA.

From what I can tell, Nyokabi's  business is in Kenya.   And I'm saying that, as far as I understand American law, her company could not possibly do any/much work for an American hospital/clinic.     The Indian Kings of Outsourcing have not had much success in that regard.

In fact---and please correct me, if I am wrong---even within the USA the legal matter of doctors "practicing across state lines" get very tricky.   Last I looked---I'll have to find the report, which was some legal commentary---only a few states, like Montana (which themselves are already "backward & outsourced" from the rest of the USA) are free-and-easy with the practice of "telemedicine".

Anyway, just to go out on a limb here, I'm going to say that I don't see a US clinic/hospital sending work to Nyokabi in Nairobi.  Not for a long, long, long time.    I'd be keen to know why you disagree.  From where I see it, the legal minefield is simply too huge; but, of course, I could be wrong.

[MOON Ki]

What I was referring to is that most law will define the "location of practice" as where the patient is, not where the doctor is.   In most cases that is not a problem because they are in the same place.    But it is different once you come to anything that could be considered "telemedicine: say you have a patient in a hospital in State X and a doctor in State Y but not licensed to practice in State X.

What a place like Montana has done is to allow Dr. Y to get a special, limited-purpose "telemedicine license" that would allow him/her to "work by remote in Montana".   

[gout]

kudos Nyokabi ... we need more cost friendly private sector, NGOist, church based service providers alternative .... KPMDU - bright doctors and nurses educated by taxes should seek funding to offer innovative health services instead of always complaining of salaries...it is very easy to overrun govt pathetic services and this needs to happen now that most of public services are irreedeemable ...how can we peg our hope on dead machines at KNH and MTRH .... looks like african govt need to be left with regulation/taxation role only......Mutua can only be 1 guy - maybe he can also open Machakos county govt health facilities in other counties as part of Machakos county income generating options.... we need all sort of experiments

[RV Pundit]

My doctor cousin is busy buying plots; Instead of investing in his area of specialization. This is the problem with us wafrika. We are still traditionally minded.Most doctors would rather invest in real estate and not in starting their own high tech clinics. So we all end up complaining...from patient to the doctor.

kudos Nyokabi ... we need more cost friendly private sector, NGOist, church based service providers alternative .... KPMDU - bright doctors and nurses educated by taxes should seek funding to offer innovative health services instead of always complaining of salaries...it is very easy to overrun govt pathetic services and this needs to happen now that most of public services are irreedeemable ...how can we peg our hope on dead machines at KNH and MTRH .... looks like african govt need to be left with regulation/taxation role only......Mutua can only be 1 guy - maybe he can also open Machakos county govt health facilities in other counties as part of Machakos county income generating options.... we need all sort of experiments

[vooke]

My doctor cousin is busy buying plots; Instead of investing in his area of specialization. This is the problem with us wafrika. We are still traditionally minded.Most doctors would rather invest in real estate and not in starting their own high tech clinics. So we all end up complaining...from patient to the doctor.

This is funny but true.
Many years ago I recall a lecturer telling us that land is a primitive factor of production in that it requires the least mental input; buy-hold, buy-develop. And of course he explained how bahindis since 1900s fared well without a fat appetite for shambas. 

There is no problem with going real but if that is the biggest preoccupation of an economy, we have a problem.

[mya88]

What I was referring to is that most law will define the "location of practice" as where the patient is, not where the doctor is.   In most cases that is not a problem because they are in the same place.    But it is different once you come to anything that could be considered "telemedicine: say you have a patient in a hospital in State X and a doctor in State Y but not licensed to practice in State X.

What a place like Montana has done is to allow Dr. Y to get a special, limited-purpose "telemedicine license" that would allow him/her to "work by remote in Montana".   

You are right about "location of practice" being defined as the patients' location. When it comes to telemedicine, I think there are enough clinicians in each state to go around which minimizes the need for inter-state practice, except in instances where renowned specialists services are required, or in states that do not have enough specialists. The provision of such licensing may be available in other states if need be (haven't really looked into it).

I personally think the success of Telemedicine will depend on how well patients' are able to interface with providers and receive care right there in their homes without office visit's or inpatient admissions. This will be even more important in rural communities that are not near any hospitals. Doctors can call or Skype with patients, provide consultations, view still images of xrays, ct's; send electronic prescription to pharmacy, and have pharmacy deliver the medicine right at their doorsteps. Patients can provide parameters for things like BP to determine the effectiveness of medications etc. This is going to reduce the costs of healthcare tremendously.

[MOON Ki]

jakoyo:

In the case I was referring to, I was told---I have not confirmed it---that even in a hospital these days one pays for the service before it is rendered.  Apparently, how ill one might be at the time is irrelevant.

That aside, veryone is eating chicken in Kenya.   Even in hospitals:

Owino admitted there are cases of staff fleecing patients out of money.
...
He urged the patients to ask for receipts for any payment at the hospital.

http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/kitui-hospital-staff-ask-bribes-two-mcas#sthash.ymGoicW7.dpbs