Kevin Nyango
TechInPacific – The Australian Government has supported a HealthTech startup from PNG, Refer Tech, for their solution called electronic tuberculosis (TB) patient management system. The solution is developed by Refer Tech’s founders, Dr. Patrick Koliwan and David Valentine and currently being piloted at the Kaugere Health Center.
The innovation helps to reduce TB patient review times two minutes to twenty minutes per patient which is considered fast enough.
TB patients are required to take a treatment in a hospital to get healed. When issuing a treatment, they have to get their card scanned and then it will automatically show their health record. The system will guide clinicians to calculate TB medication doses and treatment intervals for the patients.
If TB patients miss an appointment, they will get alerted via their mobile phones. Moreover, their ‘hotspot’ can also be identified via GIS mapping system.
Refer Tech was among the winners the 2019 TechLab SME Accelerator, a program initiated by the Australian Government. It is designed to leverage tech-enabled businesses which aims at empowering entrepreneurship through the use of emerging technology.
Participants of the program received mentoring and business development from local and international experts with the main goal to better prepare PNG in the digital future.
Coming as one of the winners of the event, Refer Tech’s founders will be supported by the Australian government to develop and expand their solution.
