If you are worried that you’ve contracted Covid-19 or any other disease during this corona virus pandemic, don’t just rush off to see your doctor, at least not right away. 

It seems counterintuitive but health institutions across the country are urging patients to call their doctors instead of heading to a care facility. This lets doctors determine if you are sick and whether you need testing. 

Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control are encouraging us to use telemedicine options during the Covid-19 outbreak. The benefit of going online or calling ahead is twofold. One, it keeps anyone who is sick from spreading their illness be it the flu or a cold. Secondly, it gives nurses and physicians more time to devote to those with more severe symptoms.

Unfortunately, most developing countries like Kenya and other African nations have not adopted telemedicine solutions in their health care institutions. 

Just like most countries, Kenya is undergoing an unprecedented change in technology and fiber is at the heart of it all. Cutting edge technologies and applications present a huge potential to revolutionize the way vital treatment is delivered to patients.

With the movement to and from major cities and towns being shut down, patients are/were forced to look for alternative ways to access health care services. This move gave way for telehealth. Telehealth is characterized by any kind of remote healthcare services such as physical and mental wellness monitoring or audio or video diagnosis. Telehealth addresses three critical considerations for patients; location, convenience and accessibility.

There is a significant need for some medical specialities in most parts of Kenya, and Telehealth will play a crucial role in ensuring these patients access much-needed care. 

However, even as the benefits and capabilities of Telehealth grow, much of Kenya remains critically underserved.

The Challenge

For years, most commercial buildings and health care institutions in Kenya have had an internet connection and telephone service via radio. Even though radio deployment was costly, it provided institutions with communication capabilities. 

Unfortunately, the requirements for the modern-day business have changed. To stay connected, remain competitive and meet the accelerating demands of the ever-changing world of cloud services, content and web presence, fiber has become a necessary foundation. 

Staying Safe, Keeping Connected

Healthcare has a unique set of requirements when it comes to networking. These requirements come about due to the personal and sensitive information being managed, accessed and utilized every day. As such, healthcare institutions need a reliable, redundant and safe network.

As medicine is moving into the future, health care institutions will need to create and deploy a carefully curated fiber network which meets their strict requirements. Deploying a fiber network with no major fault points is no easy feat. It is also the best and only way (for now).

As a result, choosing a capable network partner is one of the most important decisions healthcare and other institutions can make today.

Organizations must keep in mind the different components that facilitate success in networking when looking for a potential partner. To start, reliable networks are built from carrier-grade telecommunications equipment with an extremely low failure rate due to redundant components. These components are control planes, processors and power. 

To create a diverse physical network, your network partner must offer redundancy beyond a single network element in the form of diverse fiber connections between all Points of Presence. In doing so, you can mitigate against access to vital information and records in case of business failure or disruption. This will ensure business continuity.

Remote working comes into play in telemedicine. This aspect increases the concern for confidentiality and security. Most health care entities employ fully encrypted data transmission, using peer-to-peer secure network connections and choosing not to store or record audio or visual transmissions between doctors and patients. 

At the end of the day, just like any other individual or organization, the key is to find a network provider that gives peace of mind with an end-to-end secure, reliable network and service approach that is compliant and checks every box.

Looking Forward

As Kenya becomes increasingly digitized, it’s clear that telecommunications have the power to be a transformative force in all sectors of the economy. Telehealth, in particular, allows for different health care institutions to remain competitive, healthy and strong while keeping individuals safe.

As technology keeps disrupting all industries, fiber internet is the ideal way to give everyone the power to succeed, and the right network partner holds the key to helping these industries. 

To learn more about Adrian Kenya and how it can serve the healthcare industry as it moves into the future, please click here.

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