Government to launch ATM medicine machines
Various other technologies were also announced which will enhance health care at public clinics
South Africans will soon obtain their medication from self-service ATM-style machines.
This was one of the announcements made by the South African Ministry of Health today at the International Aids Conference in Durban.
The Pharmacy Dispensing Unit (PDU), currently being piloted at Thembalethu Clinic in Johannesburg, is a self-service machine where patients can obtain their medication in the same way people withdraw money at an ATM.
To use the machine, all a patient needs to do is register for the service, after which they receive a card that’s similar to a bank card. To “withdraw” their medication, users simply insert their card into the PDU machine, enter their PIN and select the medication they require from their prescription list.
The machine immediately dispenses the selected medication. The PDU also allows patients to communicate with a trained pharmacist via the machine using a built-in video conferencing function.
Other technologies announced by the Health Department include the Stock Visibility System, a mobile application that enables medicine availability information at primary health care clinics to be uploaded to a central online data repository. The camera on the phone can be used to scan the medicine barcode and update stock levels, thus enabling health care workers to easily monitor the quantity of medication they have in stock and timeously order medication that might be running low. This will help to reduce the number of stock-outs at clinics.
The Health Department has also lunched MomConnect, a free sms service that provides pregnant mothers with regular foetal development updates throughout their term of pregnancy. The popular service already has more than 800 000 registered users.
Delegates also got a glimpse of Mothera2Mothers, a service that connects new mothers to experienced mentors to help them through their pregnancy; the Medication Adherence app, which reminds users of their clinic or hospital visits and to take their scheduled medication; as well as B-Wise, a youth focused online service that provides young people with health information and allows them to have their health-related questions answered by an expert adviser within 48 hours.
These technologies have been developed to enhance public health and have been applauded as best practice.
