In a significant move to revolutionise healthcare delivery in Botswana, Botswana Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC) and Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital (SKMTH) have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing digital healthcare services. This collaboration will focus on implementing advanced digital health solutions to improve healthcare access, quality, and efficiency across Botswana.
The key initiatives to be delivered by this partnership include telehealth platform, that facilitates high-quality remote consultations between patients and healthcare providers; kiosk vitals screening that providespatient vitals screening through tablet kiosks, ensuring accessible and efficient health monitoring as well as home monitoring and wellbeing application that empowers individuals to manage chronic lifestyle diseases and mental health through biomarker/vitals screening without the need for separate medical devices.
This partnership directly addresses the priorities of the Ministry of Health, which include enhancing healthcare access through technology. The focus on telemedicine and health aligns with the Ministry’s eHealth strategy vision for a healthy nation benefiting from high-quality eHealth services. It also supports the Ministry’s aim to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases and improve health outcomes through technological integration.
The telemedicine and remote monitoring services will particularly benefit rural areas, ensuring that specialised healthcare is accessible regardless of geographic location, thus addressing the Ministry of Health’s focus on rural healthcare accessibility. The partnership will facilitate better health data management, crucial for informed policymaking and improving patient care coordination across different healthcare levels. Furthermore, the partnership between BTC and SKMTH exemplifies the government’s strategy to leverage public-private partnerships for sustainable and scalable healthcare solutions.
Speaking on the partnership, BTC Chief Operations Officer, Mr Aldrin Sivako stated that “we are thrilled to contribute to this transformative project which is part of our digital transformation pursuits working with partners to enable digital health ecosystems, as testament that the BTC digital technology capabilities is indeed ready to support life-changing health services”.
For his part the Commissioning Manager at SKMTH, Dr. Kagiso Ndlovu stated that “they look forward to setting a new benchmark in healthcare delivery, education, and research through this pioneering initiative”. Furthermore, he stated that this partnership marks a pivotal moment in our journey towards a digitally empowered healthcare system in Botswana”.
Original Story by Ms Lesego Goitsemang, BTC Head of Stakeholder Relations