Launched at EFSTH, the application is meant to assist medical doctors in the country to be able to treat Haemophilia patients for the first time in The Gambia.
Haemophila is an inheritable bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot easily. This medical condition affects mostly males and is characterized by bleeding into the joint, into the skin, spontaneously, after surgery, and so on. This can be life-threatening if not managed properly.
Launching the app, Dr. Al Jafari, Chief Medical Director (CMD) of EFSTH, described the initiative as a welcoming development in the country’s health system.
The hospital, he added, has been receiving haemophilia patients, but always had to refer cases abroad for treatment.
"Since we announced the launching of this project, so many patients have contacted us and this shows how important the application is for the Gambia health system.” he said.
Dr Cherno S. Jallow, head of Surgical Department at the EFSTH, revealed that The Gambia is the fifth country in Africa that launched this medical app.
"We are launching this app in collaboration with the Motherhood, Heamophilia Foundation The Gambia and the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation.” he said.
Awa Sarr, an expert from Senegal, hailed the development, acknowledging that the development of that Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chatbot would significantly help facilitate data collection, general knowledge, access to care, and treatment levels of patients.
“It will further facilitate the creation and training of speech-text models. The follow-up stages will be dissemination and advocacy campaigns, results evaluation, adoption and impact study on improvement of the knowledge gained.” he added.
The launch was followed by the treatment of three patients suffering from Haemophilia at the main referral and teaching hospital.
